TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVITY:
FASHION DESIGN IN THE 21ST CENTURY
A Dissertation
Presented to the
Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
by
MARY RUPPERT-STROESCU
Dr. Jana Hawley, Dissertation Supervisor
May 2009
© Copyright by Mary Ruppert-Stroescu 2009
All Rights Reserved
The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined
the dissertation entitled
TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVITY: FASHION DESIGN IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Presented by Mary Ruppert-Stroescu,
a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy
and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance.
_______________________________
Dr. Kitty Dickerson
_______________________________
Dr. Jana Hawley
_______________________________
Dr. Laurel Wilson
_______________________________
Dr. Julie Caplow
I dedicate this dissertation to my sons, Matei and Ioan Stroescu, who are
continuous sources of inspiration and joy.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor, Dr.
Jana Hawley, for inspiring and challenging me without fail. I will remain eternally
grateful as well to Dr. Laurel Wilson & Dr. Kitty Dickerson, for their patience,
insight, and guidance. I must also recognize Dr. Jean Hamilton, whose courses I
will never forget because her ability to communicate a passion for research
sparked my path to this dissertation. Dr. Julie Caplow built upon the appreciation
for qualitative research that began with Dr. Hamilton, and I thank her for her
support. Without Peter Carman I would not have had a platform for connecting
with the French industry interviewees. I thank my family for their support, and all
those who took time from their professional obligations to discuss technology and
creativity with me.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. viii
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
Statement of the problem .................................................................................. 1
Definitions...................................................................................................... 2
The Discipline ............................................................................................ 2
The Fashion Industry ................................................................................. 3
The Luxury Segment of the Fashion Industry ............................................ 5
The Internet, the World Wide Web, and E-Commerce ............................... 7
Historical Context .......................................................................................... 9
The Origin of Luxury Fashion..................................................................... 9
The Haute Couture .................................................................................. 15
Design diffusion through imitation. ....................................................... 17
World War II and the diffusion of fashion leadership. ........................... 19
Shifting Paradigm for the Fashion Industry .............................................. 21
The rise of a consumer-driven marketplace. ........................................ 22
The proliferation of ready-to-wear and offshore production. ................. 23
Brand development through licensing. ................................................. 24
The post-modern luxury environment. .................................................. 26
Technology created new environments for social and business
interaction............................................................................................. 28
The creative class. ............................................................................... 33
A global competitive environment. ....................................................... 35
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Technology, Mystery and Surprise .......................................................... 37
Technology as a threat. ........................................................................ 37
Process technology and information technology. ................................. 38
Theoretical Domain ..................................................................................... 40
Cultural Change and Anthropology .......................................................... 40
Culturology and the Internet..................................................................... 42
Cultural Materialism and the Fashion Industry ......................................... 43
Research Method and Purpose ................................................................... 44
Grounded Theory ..................................................................................... 45
Application of Findings ............................................................................. 46
Chapter 2: Literature Review .............................................................................. 47
Fashion ........................................................................................................... 47
Creativity ......................................................................................................... 51
Technology ..................................................................................................... 55
Academic study of related topics .................................................................... 55
Theoretical domain ......................................................................................... 59
Affect of the literature review on the research process ................................... 61
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 62
Conceptual Approaches to Social Science Research ..................................... 62
Qualitative Research and Design Strategy ..................................................... 63
The Long Interview ...................................................................................... 65
Exploratory perspective: Unifying Metatheory for Clothing and Textiles .. 66
Domains of Inquiry ................................................................................... 68
Determination of Subjects ........................................................................... 69
Data Collection Experience ......................................................................... 70
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Grounded Theory ........................................................................................ 73
Chapter 4: Descriptive findings and analysis ...................................................... 76
The Creative Process ..................................................................................... 76
Defining Creativity ....................................................................................... 76
Creativity Blends Intellect and Emotion ....................................................... 78
Creativity in Fashion Design ........................................................................... 80
The Importance of Creativity in Fashion Design .......................................... 80
Categorizing Creativity ................................................................................ 80
Creative Barrier or Catalyst? ....................................................................... 81
Creativity and Marketability ...................................................................... 82
Creativity as a Competitive Advantage .................................................... 83
Constraints to Creativity in Fashion Design ............................................. 84
Consumer taste. ................................................................................... 84
Receptivity to innovation. ..................................................................... 86
A Typology of Creativity .................................................................................. 87
Influences .................................................................................................... 87
Price-Point and Creativity ........................................................................ 87
Creativity as Problem Solving .................................................................. 88
Leadership Creativity or Adaptive Creativity ................................................ 89
Creativity Type Not Bound to the Product’s Price .................................... 90
Creativity Type Related to Customer’s Taste Level ................................. 92
Interdependence of Creativity Types ....................................................... 94
Technology and Creativity............................................................................... 96
A Typology of Technology in the Fashion Industry ...................................... 96
Process Technology and Creativity ............................................................. 99
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Information Technology and the Fashion Industry ..................................... 102
Information Technology as an Administrative Tool ................................ 102
E-Mail: a necessary evil? .................................................................. 102
Adding a communication channel. ..................................................... 104
Contribution to fast fashion................................................................. 105
Limitations of Information Technology in Relation to Fashion Design .... 106
Fashion, creativity and the human touch. ........................................... 106
The Internet as a secondary resource. ............................................... 107
Information Technology, Creativity and Travel....................................... 107
The Internet as an Essential Component to the Brand Image ............... 109
Internet Technology and Creativity ............................................................ 110
Aiding the Creative Process................................................................... 110
Guarded Use of Internet Technology ..................................................... 111
Information Technology and Change in the Fashion Industry Culture .......... 113
The Internet as a Prevalent Force ............................................................. 114
Ideological Change .................................................................................... 114
Change in Relation to General Behavior................................................ 114
Change in Consumer Behavior .............................................................. 115
Leadership Creativity and Resistance to Information Technology ............. 117
Summary ................................................................................................... 118
CHAPTER 5: Research Summary, ................................................................... 119
Conclusions, and Implications .......................................................................... 119
Research Summary ...................................................................................... 119
Conclusions .................................................................................................. 120
The Creative Process ................................................................................ 120
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Creativity in Fashion Design ...................................................................... 120
Typology of Creativity in Fashion Design .................................................. 122
Creative types in relation to price-point .................................................. 126
Technology and Creativity in Fashion Design ........................................ 130
Process Technology and Fashion Design ................................................. 132
Advantages and Disadvantages to Internet Use for Fashion Design
Creativity ................................................................................................... 134
Barriers to the Internet’s use for fashion design..................................... 135
Projected Implications of Internet Use on the Future of Creativity in the
Fashion Industry .................................................................................... 136
Information Technology and Change in Social Structure and Ideology ..... 137
Suggestions for Future Research and Limitations of the Study .................... 139
Implications ................................................................................................... 141
Relevance of this study to the Fashion Industry ........................................ 141
APPENDIX ....................................................................................................... 145
Interview Protocol ......................................................................................... 145
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 148
VITA ................................................................................................................. 158
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3. 1 Respondents by geographic area and profession type..................... 70
Figure 4. 1 The Correlation between Leadership and Adaptive Creativity .......... 95
Figure 4. 2 The intersection of Process Technology and Information ................. 97
Figure 5. 1 Typology of Creativity in Fashion Design ....................................... 123
Figure 5. 2 Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity in relation to job type
and price-point, with early 21st century fashion industry examples. .................. 127
Figure 5. 3 Combining Leadership Creativity with Adaptive Creativity.............. 129
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Statement of the problem
Creatively harnessing the zeitgeist, or spirit of the times, and translating its
inspiration into unique, timely, and marketable fashions has been the key to
survival of apparel companies since the early 20th century. Increased global
competition makes the development of a financially successful fashion product
more difficult than ever, however technology has significantly increased efficiency
in many components of the supply chain (Kusterbeck, 2008). In the fashion
business, it is the designer’s role to translate cultural influences into new
products (Lamb & Kallal, 1992). This research was developed to enhance the
understanding of fashion design in the post-modern context: How has
technology influenced the creative design process?
Focusing on creativity in fashion design, this study evolved using a
grounded theory (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) approach to qualitative inquiry.
Luxury-level fashion designers and industry executives in France and the United
States were interviewed in depth regarding creativity and the influence of
technology, specifically the Internet, on the fashion design process. Data
analysis led to defining a typology for creativity and a typology for technology in
fashion design in the global competitive environment of the 21st century. Through
relating these typologies to various dimensions of the work of a fashion designer,
the study contributed a new perspective to the social-cultural and ideological
shifts that are occurring.
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The following chapter defines key concepts, provides an historical context,
and discusses the theoretical domain under which the areas of inquiry were
established. A brief explanation of the research method and purpose of the
study ends the chapter, defining the framework within which the study was
developed and executed.
Definitions
The Discipline
The textile and apparel industry is one of the largest industries in the
global marketplace when taking into consideration the many components of the
supply chain involved with transforming raw material into products and bringing
products to the final consumer. The textile and apparel industry supply chain
includes the manufacture and the subsequent wholesale and retail sale of fibers,
yarns, fabrics, apparel & accessories for men, women, and children as well as
home furnishings and textile soft goods. “In 1996, apparel was the 10th largest
trade category as a share of all world merchandise trade (exports); textiles were
the 9th largest category” (Dickerson, 1999, p. 183). In 2004, Textiles and apparel
were ranked third in worldwide commercial exchanges, behind automobiles and
electronics. (http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/cgibin/industrie/sommaire/dec/decl.cgi?DECL_ID=1243&_Action=200
Because the textile and apparel industry requires relatively small capital
investment and low-skilled labor, this industry has been instrumental to the
economic growth of underdeveloped countries since the industrial revolution at
the turn of the 19th to the 20th century (Dickerson, 1999, Glock & Kunz, 2007).
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Textile and apparel production continued to contribute significantly to the
economic development of newly industrialized and developing countries (Glock &
Kunz, 2007). By 2007, the Global market value of the textile and apparel industry
was $1,671,1 billion. The United States apparel industry grew by 2.4% from 2005
to 2006 and reached a value of $295.5 billion (Datamonitor, 2007).
The Fashion Industry
Textile and apparel industry products can be divided into two general
categories: basic and fashion (Kunz & Garner, 2007). Basic products do not
change radically from one season to the next, while the driving force behind
fashion products is change. Fashion is defined as “1) the prevailing or accepted
style or group of styles in dress or personal decoration established or adopted
during a particular time or season.2) [When capitalized] such prevailing customs
or styles considered as an abstract force” (Webster's Third New International
Dictionary, 1986).
Kawamura (2005) builds on the second definition above and refers to
fashion as such prevailing customs or styles considered as an abstract force
whose integral components are novelty and change. McCracken (1986)
describes fashion as a system that “serves as a means by which goods are
systematically invested and divested of meaningful properties” (McCracken,
1986, p. 76). Hamilton describes “the fashion system per se, which, as a
function of any complex, industrial nation-state, has the responsibility for the
production, marketing, and merchandising (Kean, 1997) of products associated
with the construction of individual appearance” (Hamilton, 1997).
3
Dickerson (2003) describes The Fashion Business as all companies and
individuals concerned with the design, production, and distribution of textile and
apparel goods. Frequently included under the discussion of the fashion business
are components of the industry such as accessories, jewelry, and perfume
(Dickerson, 2003). The production of basic apparel items does not depend on
the same abstract driving force based on novelty and change, and therefore
basics were not a part of this analysis.
The Fashion Industry is, for the purpose of this study, all companies or
individuals involved in the creation, production, promotion, and sale of items that
(a) have specific aesthetic and functional properties, (b) trigger psychological
reactions related to desire and need and (c) are adopted by a group of people for
a limited amount of time. The Fashion Industry operates within the context of
industrial societies that “willingly accept, indeed encourage, the radical changes
that result from deliberate human effort and the effect of anonymous social
forces” (McCracken, 1986, p. 76). In order to remain successful, companies must
change the aesthetic properties of a product on a regular, usually seasonal,
basis, carefully cultivating the desire for and need of the new product by
transferring to the new item an abstract force similar to the one that created the
meaning which initially pushed the outgoing product into popularity.
The study of the Fashion industry is complex and encompasses a wide
variety of disciplines including aesthetics, design, product development,
economics, global business, marketing, consumer behavior, operations, and
management as well as anthropology, psychology, and sociology. The Fashion
4
Industry has been examined at many economic levels, from low-priced massmarket apparel to custom-made couture garments selling for thousands of dollars
each, and all price levels (or price-points) in between. A common theme that
joins all of the areas, however, is attention to the concept of change. Today’s
Fashion Industry endures because of change as it simultaneously reflects and
affects the culture in which it exists.
The Luxury Segment of the Fashion Industry
Luxury, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is “something
inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort; something expensive or hard
to obtain” (luxury n.d.). Taking a narrow view of this definition, most items that
the average consumer today owns can be considered a luxury; it is essential to
own one pair of shoes, for example, and inessential to own five. In today’s
developed economies, owning five pairs of shoes is not generally considered a
luxury, however. For the purposes of this study the luxury segment of the
Fashion Industry will be defined by companies that sell goods of superior
character costing the consumer over 200 percent more than the cost of an
average comparable item.
This definition distinguishes the Luxury Industry from the “New Luxury”
category as defined by the Boston Consulting Group (2005): “premium-quality
goods [that] cost up to 200 percent more than average ones but win devotees
among middle-market consumers because of their technical benefits and
emotional resonance” (Boston Consulting Group, 2005). Author Pamela N.
Danziger (2005) is noted for her book, “Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to
5
the Masses as well as the Classes,” is president of Unity Marketing, a luxury
market research firm (Jones, 2005) and is the founder of the The Luxury
Consumer Tracking Service
(http:/www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c83248). This service defined three
levels of luxury consumers they survey: Near-Affluents, Affluents, and SuperAffluents:
-Near-Affluents, with household incomes of $75,000-$99,999, that
represent 12.2 million households or 11 percent of all U.S. households.
This segment represents 20 percent or less of the total sample and is
representative of the “trading up” luxury market.
-Affluents, income of $100,000-$149,999, who make up 10 million U.S.
households or 9% of all households, and account for approximately 40
percent of the survey sample each quarter. This segment represents the
prototypical American 'new luxury' consumer.
-Super-Affluents, the income segment making $150,000 and above, that
represent the highest spending segment in all categories of luxury, and
who make up 5 percent of U.S. households, or 5.6 million households.
This segment makes up about 40 percent of the survey sample each
quarter. This is the most highly affluent segment of the population.
(http:/www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c83248)
The luxury industry had been growing steadily for the past decade. “The
typical luxury consumer spent $13,820 on average buying luxuries from January
to March 2006, up 18 percent over luxury spending in the same period last year
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[2005]” (D’Innocenzio, 2006). Recent economic turmoil has resulted in reduced
luxury spending, however (Jones, 2008). “After growing at about a 10 percent
clip for the last several years, the luxury market , except for pockets at the very
high end, has slowed dramatically” (Jones, 2008). Luxury companies are
adjusting their promotional strategies to attract the economically strained Affluent
and Near-Affluent consumer categories (Anonymous, 2008). The Super-Affluent
end of the luxury market is traditionally impervious to recessionary times “as of
fall 2008, luxury brands continued to resist the wider consumption slump”
(Lisanti, 2008). Regardless of the fluctuations in luxury sales volume, the luxury
category maintains relevance in the fashion industry because it is key to
developing in consumers psychological triggers for desire and need, one of the
integral components of a fashion product.
The Internet, the World Wide Web, and E-Commerce
Technology, in a general cultural context, is defined as any physical object
in our environment (Hamilton, 1987). For the purposes of this paper, the focus is
on a technological phenomenon that was developed in the mid-20th century by
the US military and came into mainstream usage in the 1990s – the Internet.
The Internet (internet, n.d.) is a network of computers possessing the capacity to
transfer information around the world. The World Wide Web uses the Internet as
a vehicle to communicate information, including text, graphics, videos and sound
to anyone with the corresponding receiving technology, which today means a
piece of machinery, or hardware and software called a web browser. Only one
Internet/World Wide Web combination exists; however the WWW is not the only
7
vehicle that transfers information through computer networks. Other systems
exist, including EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), Intranets, and Extranets.
These other systems function in a similar manner to the Internet, but access and
use is restricted.
The Internet allows users to surf, or explore, the World Wide Web for
information and entertainment and has facilitated the development of a new
business model, e-commerce. E-commerce is the process of transacting
business through contact made on the World Wide Web. Within a short 14-year
span the business world has seen considerable change due to Internet
technology; an entirely new format for the dissemination of information and for
the sale of merchandise has grown to unforeseen proportions. Internet-based
business transactions can be in the form of selling and/or advertising goods
and/or services, facilitating connections between customers and businesses (B to
C) and/or businesses and businesses (B to B). Online sales for the non-travel
(retail) category in December of 2006 surpassed the billion-dollar mark, the
highest level achieved during a holiday season to that date, and reflected a 24%
increase over same-period sales in 2005 (Anonymous, 2006). Online sales
remained a strong consumer channel even in the difficult economical setting of
2008, “US online retailers saw a 15% jump in sales on the Monday following the
Thanksgiving weekend compared with last year” (Birchall, 2008). This rapid
technological shift to the Internet is embraced by some, frustrates others yet
affects everyone, consciously or subconsciously. This study was designed to
8
explore the direct or indirect influence of the Internet on the creative product
development process in the luxury fashion apparel industry.
The luxury apparel industry has resisted entry into the e-commerce sector
(Passariello, 2006) however the luxury online presence has been growing
(Corcoran, 2008). “According to Forrester Research, luxury online sales,
including jewelry and designer fashions, rose 28 percent to $3.2 billion last year
from the previous year. That was faster than the 22 percent increase in total
online sales, excluding travel, which reached $109 billion in 2005” (D’Innocenzio,
2006).
Analyzing the depth, scope, and affect of the online sale of luxury products
is not the focus of this study, although that would be a fascinating endeavor. This
study focused on the aspect of the World Wide Web that fosters the
dissemination of information, particularly information that is inspirational to
designers for the creation of luxury fashion products. The interrelationship
between Luxury products and the Internet is relevant to this study only as it
pertains to the product design and development process.
Historical Context
The Origin of Luxury Fashion
Because the luxury segment of the Fashion Industry was the focus of this
study, understanding the evolution of fashion leadership will facilitate solid
comprehension of the importance of the luxury segment of fashion and its
relevance to the exploration of technology and creativity in fashion design.
Today’s Fashion Industry roots reach far back into European history and are
9
particularly evident when examining the evolution of aristocratic dress. For over
900 years, using expensive fabrics in dress has been important in order to
reinforce superiority in the political and social structure. Sumptuary laws dating
as early as 1279 in France defined the value of the fabric one could use in direct
proportion to the amount of wealth one possessed (Heller, 2006). Such laws
were difficult to enforce, however their existence imposed psychological barriers
and laid the groundwork for the evolution of luxury fashion.
In the 17th Century French King Louis the 14th, guided by Jean-Baptiste
Colbert, his finance minister, carved an effective plan for economic and political
dominance by emphasizing quality, creativity and craftsmanship while practicing
sound economic principles (DeJean, 2005, Grumbach, et. al., 2007). At this
time, in addition to cultivating French leadership in matters of cuisine and
decoration, King Louis the XIV’s court became the fashion center of Europe
(Grumbach, et. al., 2007). Not only did his court dictate the clothing and
accessories of its followers, but the Sun King’s government fostered a climate
that developed unique and inventive methods of branding the French court’s
image and making it desirable to people in other countries (DeJean, 2005,
Grumbach, et. al., 2007).
In order to create need for the French style and to enhance French
influence on neighboring courts, Louis XIV’s government expanded the use of
fashion dolls, or poupées de mode that was initiated in the fifteenth century by
Isabeau de Baviere, wife of Charles IV when she “instructed the court
embroiderer to create a doll’s wardrobe in the latest French style to send to her
10
sister, Isabelle, the queen of England” (Grumbach, et. al., 2007, p. 17) The
fashion dolls were dispatched to fashionable dressmakers in the French
provinces and even sent to many countries; from Spain to England, as far east
as Russia, and even across the Atlantic to Boston and New York. The
sumptuous fabrics, laces, details, silhouettes, shoes, and hair styles of the
French court were adopted by those with the financial means to follow the latest
fashion trends (DeJean, 2008, Grumbach, et. al., 2007). These fashion dolls
were an effective marketing tool, because in addition to providing an aesthetic
attraction to the commissioner of the design, the dolls provided the dressmakers
with details that aided them in constructing the garments (Grumbach, et. al.,
2007).
In order to expand even more the influence of French style, under Louis
XIV’s reign fashion journalism was born. In1678, Donneau de Visé wrote in the
January edition of Le Mercure Galant that he “would report on the latest fashions
for the benefit of the provincial nobility and those in foreign courts, so they could
remain knowledgeable of the latest trends” (Grumbach, et. al., 2007, p. 17). The
text included a reference to the French suppliers of the components of the
garments and was accompanied by illustrated fashion plates created by artists
working for the court. These publications were the seeds for the fashion
magazines we know today. Beautiful and enticing, they enlarged the scope of
French influence in matters of taste because they not only portrayed the apparel
and accessories of the French court, but also the interiors – creating an overall
image or mood of the lifestyle of the French aristocracy (DeJean, 2005). By the
11
late 19th century the fashion doll tradition was replaced by printed magazines. In
an attempt to maintain style dominance despite the tragedy of war, however,
fashion dolls were created once again and sent outside of France during both the
first and second World Wars.
Before the mid-18th century, there was a very strong division between the
aristocracy and the common people, and the clothing people wore strongly
reflected that division (Perrot, 1994). Fashion, or styles adopted by a group of
people for a limited time, existed only at the aristocratic, or luxury, level. Trade
with foreign lands introduced new materials and colors to the aristocratic
wardrobe, such as silk and dyes from the East. Fashion change, however, was
extremely slow compared to today’s standards, taking years and sometimes
decades before adoption of new styles.
Style changes that did occur were a reflection of the political/trade
environment and the aristocracy was secure in its fashion superiority. Common
people wore rough-hewn, simple clothing that lacked shape and color;
sometimes the urban common people who lived in towns around the castles
were able to procure “hand-me-downs” from the aristocracy, but even those were
usually in poor condition (Perrot, 1994). The late 18th century changed the clear,
unshakable class division through dress due, in large part, to two notable
revolutions: the French revolution and the industrial revolution.
The seeds of modern fashion can be traced to the end of the 18th century,
when the French revolution created the breeding-ground for the middle class to
flourish. Prior to the French revolution, there were basically two classes of
12
people; the commoners and nobility. The common people revolted against the
aristocracy in the French revolution (Censer, 2003, Perrot, 1994), marking an
important transition from a feudal-based monarchy to a democratic, capitalistic
system. The process of large groups of people choosing to adopt styles that led
to modern fashion began when the French commoners gained full access to the
sumptuous wardrobes of the nobility and courtesans just after the Revolution,
giving the freedom of garment choice to the individual. Prior to this period, as
mentioned previously, the manner in which one dressed was highly regulated
through sumptuary laws and decrees by the King (Steele, 1988, Perrot, 1994,
Heller, 2006).
Because the French Revolution essentially eradicated the aristocratic level
of society in France for a period of time (Grumbach, et. al., 2007), a burgeoning
category of society germinated; the bourgeoisie, merchant, or middle class
(Perrot, 1994, Vinken, 2005). Members of bourgeois society achieved status and
respect, not from their birthright as the aristocrats did, but by acquiring political or
economic power. The most public display of this newly acquired status was
through dress. The use of dress at this time continued to serve highly political
and social means, however with a significant shift. Whereas pre-revolutionary
restrictions on dress served to isolate the upper class from the lower class, after
the revolution a commoner or provincial could access and emulate the upper
class by accumulating wealth and dressing like them (Steele, 1988). Despite the
proletarian impetus from which the French Revolution evolved, even those who
prior to the revolution condemned showing wealth and power through
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possessions eventually began to do just that. Class distinction was once more
created through outward appearance, in particular dress. In this new fluid society,
the upper echelon watched with unease while the rising middle class emulated
the cultured class by dressing like them.
Immediately after the revolution, the rising middle class wore clothing castoffs from the upper class, which created a thriving second-hand business in
Paris. This second-hand clothing was often dirty, infested with disease and
insects, and truly posed a health hazard at times (Perrot, 1994). Fortunately at
the turn of the 19th century the unhealthy second-hand clothing business was
replaced by inexpensive ready-to-wear. The industrial revolution set the stage for
mass fashion by introducing machines and systems that enabled the production
and sale of multiple garments at accessible prices. Although the quality, fit,
materials and craftsmanship of the ready-made clothing was not as good as the
cast-off’s, ready-to-wear gained such popularity that the second-hand business
faded significantly by the mid 19th Century (Perrot, 1994).
The Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century and flourished
in the 19th century, facilitated the process of changing social status by enabling
the “man from the street” with a savvy business sense to operate a successful
company and rise to social levels never before imagined. “During the industrial
revolution, machinery not only revolutionized manufacture and material life, but
also thought, belief, and ideology” (Wilson, 2003, p. 60).
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The Haute Couture
While technology was enabling the mass production of apparel, high
society continued to search for ways to differentiate themselves from the
masses. In the face of the inconvenient ability of the lower class to emulate the
upper class through dress, a new business model called the Haute Couture
emerged (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). To maintain superior status the cream of
society was compelled to change their style of dress more often than ever before.
The desire for high quality craftsmanship and original, unique design ideas
fostered a climate ripe for the advancement of the luxury Fashion Industry,
beginning by the development of the Haute Couture.
During the mid-19th century Charles Frederic Worth, an Englishman, went
to Paris and infiltrated high society. Capitalizing on the upper class’s need to
distinguish themselves from the lower classes through dress, Worth set the
foundation for the distinct branch of the apparel industry that became known as
the Haute Couture. By offering unique, beautiful and exceptionally well-made
clothes to Empress Eugine and elite members of Parisian society, Worth and his
successors facilitated the process for clothing to clearly distinguish the classes in
the new paradigm created by the industrial revolution.
True to the protectionist tradition established by King Louis IV and JeanBaptiste Colbert, the French government formed the Chambre Syndicale de la
Haute Couture in 1868 (Grumbach, et. al., 2007), and this highly regulated sector
remains today part of the national patrimony. Catering to the luxury, upper-level
of society with innovative and creative designs, the Haute Couture industry
15
established France as the undeniable center for fashion leadership in the modern
western world until the mid-20th century.
From the 1900s to the 1940s the French Haute Couture was a dynamic
industry where designers experimented with silhouette, structure, fabric, and
technique. Study of early 20th Century fashion history revealed Haute Couture
designers whose creativity, research, and development pioneered revolutionary
directions in apparel development. A few notable examples include Paul Poiret,
Mario Fortuny, Madeline Vionnet, Mme. Grès, Cristobal Balenciaga, and Coco
Chanel.
The following designers combined technological innovations with design
excellence and marketing acumen in a manner that revolutionized fashion.
Fortuny developed a unique method of silk pleating and broke away from
tradition when he applied it to a formless column-like silhouette
(www.fortuny.com/Mariano/History.html), Vionnet manipulated the grain of the
fabric, enabling body-hugging yet form-flowing silhouettes unattainable
previously (Tortora & Eubank, 2005). Mme. Grès worked with a fabric
manufacturer to develop a new supple silk jersey used in her sculptural draped
gowns (Personal communication with Mme. Picot, 2006). Balenciaga also
worked with a fabric manufacturer to develop silk gazar, a light yet structured
fabric used in his voluminous dresses and coats (Personal viewing of Balenciaga
exhibit at the Musée du Textile du Louvre, Paris, 2006). Poiret and Chanel
changed the direction of fashion through visionary marketing prowess rather than
technical development. Paul Poiret liberated women from the binding corsets
16
and brought inspiration from the orient into the designs he produced. He also
expanded his business into perfume and the decorative arts (Grumbach, et. al.,
2007), Among Coco Chanel’s many contributions were the introduction of
costume jewelry, the “little black dress”, and the use of knit fabric for daywear
(Tortora & Eubank, 2005).
The quantity of apparel produced in Paris at this time was significant. In
1910, there were 350,000 sewers and 150,000 artisans working in the Haute
Couture industry (Personal communication with Dider Grumbach, June 21, 2006,
Grumbach, et. al., 2007). Fashion change reflected the turbulent political and
cultural times in which it functioned. Silhouettes went from structured in the
1910s to free-flowing in the 1920s and 1930s to structured again in the 1940s
and 1950s. The Haute Couture flourished, and up to the 1960s, 60% of the
women in France had at least one piece of Haute Couture clothing in her
wardrobe; “ready-to-wear was for the poor” (Personal communication with Dider
Grumbach, June 21, 2006, Grumbach, et. al., 2007).
Design diffusion through imitation.
Once again following the principles established by King Louis the XIV, a
key element of French fashion dominance was the distribution of fashion
information. The industrial revolution facilitated this process, enabling not only
distribution of fashion news through magazines, but also through the sale of
patterns, or patrons-modèles to dressmakers. Since the beginning of the
nineteenth century when the development paper patterns and tools for drafting
them made reproducing French styles easier, Parisian dressmakers sold patterns
17
to entrepreneurs from outside of Paris who used them to adapt the Parisian
styles for their local markets (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). Fashionable garments
and/or patrons-modèles had been shown at all of the French international
exhibitions “in 1855, 1867, 1878, and 1889… the French fashion display enjoyed
particular success and prominence in 1900” (Grumbach, et. al., 2007, p. 69).
In the 20th century, further industrial developments, including increased
international travel, spurred the French fashion industry to disseminate news of
the styles through a rather unique process. Unlike when the French government
sent static fashion dolls to neighboring courts, this time the mannequins were live
young women, and retail executives from the United States, Canada and other
countries were invited to Paris to attend the private showings of the designer’s
Haute Couture collections. Those business people were able to purchase
designs for reproduction, complete with samples and patterns. The Chambre
Syndicale de la Haute Couture issued “passports” to these select people, which
gave them entrance into the shows and at the same time committed them to buy
a certain amount of designs to reproduce. (Personal communication with Dider
Grumbach, June 21, 2006, Grumbach, et. al., 2007). Buyers from luxury-level
department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel in New York
and Eaton’s in Toronto (Palmer, 2001) as well as entrepreneurs such as Hattie
Carnegie of New York built very successful businesses by reinterpreting Haute
Couture designs for the North American market and selling them under a private
label
18
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E3DF1E39F932A35750C0
A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all).
World War II and the diffusion of fashion leadership.
The Second World War changed many things in the world, including the
nature of the Haute Couture and the tradition of undeniable French fashion
leadership. As was the case so many times in the course of history, during the
Second World War fashion became a tool for political control. Under German
occupation, the Haute Couture was closely mediated. German officials closed
every design house that did not fully collaborate with them, and many designers
moved to the south of France or were forced to close their businesses. (Personal
communication with Mme. Collette Picot, July 3, 2006).
Hitler recognized the importance of the Haute Couture, and attempted to
move the Haute Couture industry to Berlin (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). If not for the
diplomatic talent of designer Lucien Lelong, then President of the Chambre
Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Hitler would have succeeded in taking the Haute
Couture from France. Mr. Lelong managed to convince the German officers that
physically moving the machines and the people would not successfully recreate
Haute Couture in Berlin. He emphasized there was a particular element of Haute
Couture that could only be found in France, especially given the large network of
artisans that supported the designers (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). The German
government maintained control over the Haute Couture, during the war however.
It was at this time, following German principles of discipline, that the
Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture developed the strict set of rules one
19
must follow to be considered a member. The occupying German government
chose a list of 45 couturiers or designers who had the right to receive fabric
rationing, and sometimes to obtain free fabric. Under such control, the Chambre
Syndicale developed rules defining the number of sewers, number of times a
collection should be presented, number of pieces in the collection, etc. that
characterizes the Haute Couture category. Today those rules state that the
designer must show at least 35 designs twice a year at a fashion show in Paris
and that each “garment [presented] must be made completely by hand, from a
pattern that is customized to fit the buyer, in a Parisian atelier that employs at
least 20 seamstresses” (Binkley, 2007). The Haute Couture “label is a legally
protected appellation which can only be used by couture houses which have
been granted it. Such houses are listed on a decree issued yearly by a special
commission of the Ministry of Industry”
(www.modeaparis.com/va/toutsavoir/index.html).
Under German occupation, Paris was inaccessible to foreigners
(Grumbach, et. al., 2007), and the work of American designers was appreciated
at levels never before realized. Instead of establishing a “new” Haute Couture
industry, however, designers in the United States developed a different category
of fashion – casual sportswear for the middle- and upper-middle classes. Claire
McCardell was the pioneer for the concept of sportswear separates, or diverse
pieces that are merchandised together and can mix-and-match to create a look
unique to the customer (Tortora & Eubank, 2005). This concept set the pace for
American design for the duration of the 20th century. Subsequent designers
20
including Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, and Tommy
Hilfiger built empires by designing sportswear separates for the middle- and
upper-middle class.
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War the Haute Couture
saw a rebirth and flourished. Designer Christian Dior drew the attention of the
entire world to his “New Look”. This style changed the silhouette from the
wartime boxy, masculine form using a minimum of fabric to a wasp-waist,
demure, feminine and luxurious look that took many yards of fabric. Dior’s design
was in part the result of business collaboration with the fabric manufacturer
Boussac (www.tendances-de-mode.com/2007/11/29/561-dior, Grumbach, et. al.,
2007). Boussac had commissioned Dior to create a market that would use its
products; thus his designs included skirts that required an average of 5 yards of
fabric. Global acceptance of this sensual “New Look” reflected the times.
Femininity came to the forefront as men returned home from the war and women
wanted to dress to please and attract those men. The post WW II economies in
the United States and Canada flourished, and North American customers once
again became the most important clients of the French Haute Couture for two
more decades.
Shifting Paradigm for the Fashion Industry
The late 1960s brought cultural upheaval in the Western world,
spearheaded by the youth of the day revolting against the Viet Nam war. The
fashion industry was affected by this phenomenon in many essential ways,
including further diffusion of fashion leadership from the Parisian nucleus and
21
less interest in the Haute Couture (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). A shift from a
producer-focused fashion industry to a consumer-focused fashion industry, the
rise of ready-to-wear through improved technology and offshore production, and
brand development through licensing are three key elements of the fashion
industry shift at this time.
The rise of a consumer-driven marketplace.
From the beginning of Haute Couture to the mid-1970s, the end user had
virtually no influence on the styles produced by the designers. Each season
consumers waited anxiously to see what they were supposed to wear in the
industry-driven environment. Technological advances together with the drastic
social and cultural changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s influenced the
mindset of the consumer. The new consumer expressed desire to have a voice
regarding the products consumed.
Combining a new consumer awareness paradigm with the US recession in
the late 1970s, retailers in the United States began to realize that in order to
continue to grow sales, listening to the consumer was imperative. The traditional
retailer's function of merely buying and reselling shifted to include specification
buying, developing a new business category called private label. Specification
buying enabled retailers to contract for specific garments directly with the
manufacturer and to bypass the wholesale level completely. Available consumer
product assortments at affordable prices increased exponentially, resulting in a
saturated consumer market and drastically heightened competition. The
“American Mall Phenomena” took off with flying colors, and retailers proliferated.
22
With this profusion of retail space and products, people naturally began to
exercise their right of choice to a greater extent. Competition became and
remained fierce.
As early as the 1970s consumer advocates such as Ralph Nader brought
attention to harmful characteristics of certain products, obliging manufacturers
and retailers to practice more responsible product development. Beginning in the
1990s and continuing into the 2000s consumers added to their list of demands
concepts relating to social justice and sustainable practices. In order to remain
successful retailers and manufacturers continue to be compelled to define the
needs and desires of the customer and work to satisfy those needs while at the
same time searching for ways to keep costs down to increase profit and attract
market share.
The proliferation of ready-to-wear and offshore production.
Previous to the 1980s, apparel production in the US was an essential part
of the gross national product (Glock & Kunz). Cities like St. Louis, Kansas City,
Dallas and Atlanta, had thriving apparel manufacturing districts, where designers
and seamstresses worked together to produce a diverse range of clothing
(personal conversation with Anne Brownfield, April, 2005). In the mid-1980s,
however, companies began contracting with factories in low-wage countries in
order to cut costs and remain competitive. Such offshore production enabled a
proliferation of product offering and contributed significantly to overextended
consumerism (McCracken, 1986). By the end of the 20th century, only a fraction
of textile and apparel manufacturing remained in the United States, creating a
23
new paradigm where the fashion business focus shifted from manufacturing
management to merchandising, design development and process management.
Brand development through licensing.
The concept of brand development in the fashion industry began with the
birth of the Haute Couture. Charles Frederic Worth and his contemporaries were
the first entrepreneurs to create a label and sew that label inside the garments
produced (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). This ingenious marketing tool created
desire and demand for garments possessing that label, or brand, only. From that
point forward the designer label has been a hallmark of quality and desire. The
notoriety of a designer brand can entice the consumer to purchase more than
apparel. In the early part of the 20th Century, Jean Patou’s insight guided his
company to use its Haute Couture name to sell non-apparel luxury products.
Patou collaborated with a perfume manufacturer to produce Joie which had the
Jean Patou name on the label and was promoted as “The most expensive
perfume in the world” (http://recherche.prodimarques.com/parfum--jeanpatou.html, Etheringon-Smith, 1984). The luxury image surrounding the Haute
Couture label of Jean Patou enabled the perfume to be sold at a high price.
Patou’s pioneering business acumen established a foundation for one of
the most lucrative segments of the luxury fashion industry today: licensing. The
sense of the term licensing in this context relates to the exchange of money for
the use of a designer or company’s name, copy written logo or other visual
image. In 1948, Prestige hosiery in France and Christian Dior entered into the
first licensing agreement between a designer and an accessory manufacturer.
24
Christian Dior was not required to purchase inventory from Prestige hosiery; the
exact details of the agreement are not accessible at this time, but in principle Dior
gave Prestige hosiery the right to use his logo and name while in return Prestige
hosiery gave Dior a percentage of sales of the products bearing his name. In the
mid-1960s the Haute Couture houses of Yves St. Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy,
and Pierre Cardin were the first of the Haute Couture businesses to begin
licensing their couture names to ready-to-wear (Personal communication with
Dider Grumbach, June 21, 2006, Grumbach, et. al., 2007). These Haute Couture
firms did not want to engage in the ready-to-wear business, but realized the
earning potential of the ready-to-wear market and contracted with a separate
company to design and manufacture ready-to-wear that was sold with the
namesake label. Licensing agreements have taken various forms, allowing the
designer to have varying degrees of product design control.
The most common contemporary product categories for which luxury-level
companies enter into licensing agreements are perfume, handbags, sunglasses
and shoes. However Bill Blass chocolates and Courrèges hubcaps have
appeared on the market at different intervals. Licensing of a prestigious name,
applied too liberally, can actually result in the name losing its status. Pierre
Cardin, for example, was an extremely talented, visionary Haute Couture and
ready-to-wear designer in the 1960s, but through extensive licensing his name
had lost its value; one can find a 3-piece Pierre Cardin luggage set for $79; no
longer a luxury item (Matlack & Sager, 2005). Licensing remains an important
component of the luxury industry marketing mix, however (Kissi, 2007).
25
Estimated worldwide retail sales of licensed fashion products in 2007 was $39.8
Billion (Bowman, 2008). The accessory industry especially flourished under
licensing agreements. “Sunglasses are the third-fastest growing category in
luxury goods after shoes and handbags” (Anonymous, 2007).
In order to build a brand image strong enough to induce the customer to
purchase a 5-ounce bottle of water for $80, luxury-level companies invest heavily
in research, development and promotion of creative apparel. “Haute Couture has
become a valuable asset and, for the houses that have preserved it, a
competitive advantage, a standard for all the products – ready-to-wear,
accessories, and perfume, that carry the label” (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). This
study focuses on that important component, exploring how the luxury-level
creative design process is evolving in today’s technologically-dominated
environment.
The post-modern luxury environment.
Analysis of the post-modern luxury environment revealed that emerging
economies maintained the greatest potential for luxury sales growth. The 20th
century saw apparel manufacturing grow from cottage production to a multimillion-dollar industry with large factories and far-reaching economic and political
implications. Improved technology and increased offshore production in
developing countries facilitated the relatively new design category of retail
product development and branding, while at the same time creating new markets
for the luxury industry.
26
Since the time of the Industrial Revolution in the United States to the
current economic/industrial revolution in developing countries, employment in the
textile and apparel sector has been an integral component to economic
development. The affect on the consumer has been two-fold. On the one hand,
lower-skilled workers engaged in gainful employment so they were able to fulfill
their family’s basic needs, contributing to a growing middle-class. On the other
hand, entrepreneurs with a good business sense have built wealth without heavy
investments, enabling them to become upper-class luxury consumers. The
money earned on both ends of this spectrum contributed to a higher overall
standard of living, and also contributed to a growing spiral of desire for material
objects.
As the standard of living rose, so did the potential to consume. For
example, in 1992, 57.3 pounds of textiles per capita were consumed in the
United States, compared to 6 pounds of textiles consumed per capita in India
(Dickerson, 1999). The rising standard of living influenced the thought process,
or ideology, of the population, shifting the focus away from struggling to meet
basic needs to desiring a wide variety of styles and features for basic items,
developing a perceived need for products that had not previously existed.
Extensive global advertising and promotion contributed significantly to the
growth of the luxury industry in this fertile environment, defining the emerging
economies of China, India, and Russia as the strongest growth markets. “The
[southeast Asia] region’s fashionistas already account for about half of all luxury
27
goods spending in the world… Sales of luxury goods in China rose 30 % last
year [2007]” (Bowman, 2008).
Producing creative, high-priced apparel and presenting it in high-profile
fashion shows has been recognized as the foundation for fashion brand
development (Grumbach, et. al., 2007). The establishment of fashion brands
based on creative and innovative research and development in turn enabled
further commercial exploitation of those brands through licensing of the brand
image to products that continue to be accessible at prices relevant to the growing
Near-Affluent and Affluent consumer populations. This study explored creativity
and technology focused on the luxury segment of the textile and apparel complex
because of the creative liberties employed by producers for this category.
Similarly, Cappetta, Cillo, & Ponti (2006) chose the luxury fashion industry as a
model for stylistic innovation because of its dynamic nature.
The relevance of stylistic innovation is so transparently obvious in
the fine fashion industry that its analysis may lead one to draw insights
that go beyond this industry to develop concepts that might be applied to
other industries where the role of style is likely to be somewhat more
latent. (Cappetta, Cillo, & Ponti, 2006, p. 1274)
Technology created new environments for social and business interaction.
The pattern of millennium transitions, system revolutions, social
transitions, and change that happened at the turn of the 20th century was
revealed yet again at the dawn of the 21st century. In the 1990s a technological
revolution based around computers and the Internet began transforming
28
business in general and the fashion industry in particular. The Internet is most
widely used in urban areas of developed countries; however its availability is
growing constantly across the globe, especially in developing countries (Kunz &
Gardner, 2007, Walmsley, 2008). From 2000 to 2008, Internet use in Africa grew
1,031.2% in the Latin America/Caribbean area 66.9%, and in the Middle East
1,176.8% while in Europe growth of Internet use for the same period was 266%
while in Oceania/Australia Internet use grew 165.1% and in the US only 129.6%.
Internet use in Asia, where over half of the world population is located, grew
406.1% in that 8-year period (www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm).
New business types have emerged and flourished formed around Internetbased transactions. Companies today must consider both the physical and the
virtual environments. Mulit-channel retailing now includes selling on the Internet.
Terms like click-and-mortar have come into the vocabulary; this defines
businesses having both a physical building and a virtual presence on the World
Wide Web. In December of 2008, retail giant Bloomingdales announced the
elimination of its catalog division, shifting all of its “direct-to-consumer efforts to
the Internet” (Gallagher, 2008). The consumer interface for many companies,
however, exists exclusively through the World Wide Web. Companies can
function from a garage or home office selling merchandise to thousands of
customers around the world by developing and maintaining a web page, which is
a visual representation of the company and its products that is accessed on the
Internet.
29
Computer technology facilitating the communication of information, or
information technology, is integrated at every stage of the textile and apparel
supply chain, from design, production, and distribution to marketing, sales, and
the consumer (Kunz & Gardner, 2007). Adopting Internet-based PLM (Product
Lifecycle Management) systems has become a key component to the financial
success of an apparel business (Kusterbeck, 2008).
A relatively recent development, and a characteristic of the “Web 3.0”
(Woods, 2008) generation of Internet evolution, is the virtual environment. This
is a web space where avatars representing people and businesses function in a
virtual world, exchanging actual money for goods and services. Second Life is
the current leader in this area, with self-proclaimed 1,652,979 logins in a 60-day
period, and $US 1,815,719 dollars spent in a 24-hour period.
(http://www.secondlife.com).
In addition to these new business types, innovative forms of information
dissemination have evolved. Search engines were developed to help the user
find information about a particular subject amid the vast resources available on
the Internet. Google, through its founders’ technological and business prowess,
has become the leading search engine; the common phrase “I Googled it”
referring to the fact that one put a term into Google’s search engine to see the
results shows how deeply the use of Google has penetrated society. Enewsletters, news and information websites, and e-zines (Internet-based
magazines) are also components of the new Information Technology
environment based on the Internet.
30
The Internet is also changing the way people work together due to its easy
access and the fact that individuals may choose to remain anonymous. This
paradigm facilitated a democratic user-generated environment where anyone
could contribute. Thomas Friedman (2006) defined the term open sourcing
where Internet users can play a part in the development of ideas and products.
Netscape, the first Internet browsing software, was created by the founder giving
open access to multiple contributors. Through an open, auto-monitoring process,
best practices from a wide range of specialists created a product that changed
the face of the World Wide Web (Friedman, 2006). The open sourcing concept
has evolved into crowd sourcing (Newsweek, December, 2008). Crowd
sourcing, or harnessing the knowledge of groups of people, has created
innovations such as Wikipedia, the world’s largest online source for definitions.
Initially, the validity of information on Wikipedia was questionable because it was
a non-regulated process of information posting. The founders of Wikipedia,
however, have developed a monitoring and validation process that has brought
Wikipedia from a place to find anecdotal information to a serious resource for
knowledge. Branching off of the Wikipedia success, individuals and businesses
can now build a wiki around any topic and invite participants to work together in a
virtual environment to solve a problem, create a document, share best practices,
develop a concept or produce a resource for knowledge (Bell, 2009). The top five
technologies created through crowd sourcing as of December 2008 are:
Wikipedia, Facebook, Digg, Linux, and Yelp (Newsweek, December, 2008).
31
Other outlets for individual expression on the Internet are Blogs, or Web
logs, and Podcasts. Blogs are personal journals that individuals post on the
Internet and become popular according to the number of people who find them
and read them. Podcasts provide recorded audio clips that can be downloaded
onto small playing devices and taken nearly anywhere. A podcast can be a type
of audio journal, can provide entertainment, and also can be used for educational
purposes.
A new concept, social networking, is developing rapidly on the Internet as
well. Myspace.com and Facebook.com are websites with a system whereby
individuals create an online presence and develop community ties in a
completely virtual environment, sharing blogs, videos and photos. Linkedin.com
provides a similar format for professional networking. Youtube.com facilitates
sharing of videos among individuals and businesses around the world.
The influence of these new technologies on fashion is undeniable. Ann
Watson, Vice president and fashion director of Henri Bendel, a New York
Department store emphasized the natural cohesion of social networking and
fashion:
“MySpace is a platform for self-expression, personal broadcasting,
human contact, discovery of culture, and is a creative hub of readily
accessible ideas … So when we talk about how fashion is all about the
individual style it is the influence of pop culture promoting the individual
through self-expression platforms like MySpace (Feitelberg, 2008).
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Capitalizing on the social networking phenomenon in-house, retailer Wet Seal
created a proprietary social networking community that targets teens in April of
2008. By August the company stated that “1.2 million outfits have been created,
and the site has generated a 10 percent increase in revenue” (Corcoran,
2008, September).
A unique approach to meshing the capacities of the Internet with fashion
lies in the latest development by Tommy Hilfiger: Tommy TV. This Internet-only
music video station targets the 18-24 year-old consumer (Jones, 2008). While
the site is intended to be a “marketing initiative” (Jones, 2008) and doesn’t
directly promote products, the home page does provide a link to the Tommy
Hilfiger e-commerce site.
These examples are only a sampling of the ways the Internet is reshaping
communication and business in today’s world, and new phenomena are
developing so quickly that at any given time an attempt to give the “latest
development” would be out of date. This study addressed the influence of some
of these communication technologies on the creative fashion design process.
The creative class.
The 1990s also marked a turning point in the development of a new class
of society, the creative class (Florida, 2002). Richard Florida, an economist who
teaches at Carnegie Melon and the Brookings Institution, defines the creative
class as “people who add economic value through their creativity” (Florida,
2002). The transition from the 19th to the 20th century saw the rise of a new
class, the bourgeoisie, that was not based on birthright as was the case for the
33
existing noble class, but on the capacity to create wealth. In a similar manner,
this creative class is characterized not by wealth but by the capacity to create.
Members of the creative class can come from many walks of life and economic
backgrounds. Class distinction in the 20th century followed the Marxist theory
that the ability to rise to an upper class depends on the ability to “own and control
the means of production, workers, and their employ” (Florida 2002). Analysis of
the current cultural, economic and technology-based environment revealed that
“little analytical utility remains in these broad categories of bourgeoisie and
proletarian, capitalist and worker (Florida, 2002 p. 68),” that were so important in
the first part of the 20th century.
Members of the creative class do not gain their status through
management of physical property. Their capital is their creative capacity. The
one element that draws members of the creative class together is that their
function in the economy is to “create meaningful new forms” (Florida, 2002).
These forms must not necessarily be tangible; new business practices and
working methods are included in the creative class repertoire. Florida (2002)
defines two components of the creative class: the “Super-Creative Core”, and
the “creative professionals.” The creative professionals work in a “wide range of
knowledge-intensive industries, such as high-tech sectors, financial services, the
legal and healthcare professions, and business management” (Florida 2002
p.69). The Super-Creative Core, which was analyzed for this study, is a
group of scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and novelists,
artists, entertainers, actors, designers and architects, as well as the thought
34
leadership of modern society: nonfiction writers, editors, cultural figures, thinktank researchers, analysts and other opinion-makers. (Florida, 2002)
This study focused on the segment of the Super-Creative Core that
interacts with the design of apparel and accessories for the luxury fashion
industry. Designers of today function in an environment that is characterized by
increased competition, enhanced consumer awareness, and rapidly-developing
technology. In order to adapt to and thrive in this changing environment, it is
essential to understand how these changes influence the creative process. This
study contributed to a better understanding of the creative process in today’s
luxury industry and the affect of technology, specifically Internet technology, on
creativity.
A global competitive environment.
As mentioned previously, competition has always been an important
component of the Fashion Industry. In the global economy of today, however,
due to the combination of immediate and rapid dissemination of information
about fashion trends, the lack of copyright protection, and the ability of the
industry to quickly respond to change, it has been extremely difficult to always
create full financial benefit from creative fashion design ideas. For example,
companies that are global fashion leaders, such as Prada from Italy saw the
spring designs they revealed on the runway in October in Milan appear in lowerpriced retail stores such as H&M (Murphy, 2008) in January, before having
presented the styles on the Prada retail selling floor at the planned delivery date
of March. Another leader in the area of quick turnover of apparel production is
35
Zara, a company based in Spain that has been producing fashion-forward
clothing with a 30-day concept to consumer cycle for several years. The Zara
state-of-the-art facility near Barcelona is a benchmark for companies looking to
shorten the production cycle. These companies function due to a combination of
the manner in which technology facilitates the proliferation of fashion trend
information and the lack of legal repercussions for copying fashion designs.
Such overt, rapid copying of fashion designs poses a multitude of problems for
the fashion leaders, not the least of which is the inability to amortize investment
in research and development.
The lack of copyright protection in the United States for creative fashion
designs is especially delicate given the fact that every other developed country
provides some type of protection for creative fashion designs. Representatives
from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the French Chambre
Syndicale de la Couture et du Prêt a Porter, and the Italian Fashion Industry
Association went to Washington D.C. in 2005 (personal communication with
Dider Grumbach, June 21, 2006) to lobby with representatives of Congress and
succeeded in finding a senator, Congressman Bob Goodlatte
(www.apparelandfootwear.org/LegislativeTraeNews/DesignPiracyProhibitionAct.
asp) who has sponsored H.R. 5055, the Design Piracy Prohibition Act that will
put copyright restrictions on fashion designs in the US. Copyright protection is
not embraced by all members of the US Fashion Industry, however. Trend
forecaster and analyst David Wolfe stated that
36
The [fashion] industry thrives ‘because of, and not in spite of, a lack
of copyright protection’ ... because of the give-and-take among designers,
Mr. Wolfe said it would be difficult to distinguish between a design that is
copied and a design that is a product of inspiration.(Palank, 2006)
In general, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has lobbied for
passage of this bill, while the American Apparel and Footwear Association has
been opposed. Negotiations between the two powerful American Fashion
Industry trade associations resulted in the AAFA’s rejection of the CFDA’s
proposal (Ellis, 2008, March 10). Combining the nebulous nature of defining
what constitutes truly original designs, the potential legal disputes, trade
interruption, and the packed Congressional schedule, it is unlikely that this bill will
pass the US Congress in the near future. (Ellis, 2008, and
www.apparelandfootwear.org/LegislativeTraeNews/DesignPiracyProhibitionAct.a
sp). Balmer, (2008) disputes any increase in creativity due to copyright
protection, citing examples in creative design areas outside of fashion. The
relevance of copyright protection to this study lies in the influence of the
phenomenon on the creative process.
Technology, Mystery and Surprise
Technology as a threat.
In this technological revolution where computers are replacing many of a
designers manual tasks current fashion designers find a similar situation as
artists did at the beginning of the industrial revolution:
37
Art was embattled. ‘From today painting is dead’ was one response
to the daguerreotype, forerunner of the photograph. The appearance of
mass-produced artifacts opened a gap between art, including
craftsmanship, on one side and machine-made imitations on the other –
the unique and the kitsch, high art and the popular. The artist found
himself both more important and more threatened. (Wilson, 2003)
Does the fashion designer find him or herself more important and more
threatened than ever before? Not only are the producers of apparel learning of
fashion trends faster than ever before due to the Internet phenomenon, but
consumers are doing so as well. Increased consumer awareness of global
fashion trends most certainly affects a designer’s work, for the fashion process is
built around mystery and surprise; maintaining those two elements in this new
paradigm is quite challenging, yet essential to selling success. This study
explored the fashion designers perception of the influence of the Internet on the
designer’s role in the creative process.
Process technology and information technology.
Technology has aided designers and manufacturers to meet the current
business environment’s challenges. Because technology is a broad term and in
order to clarify the discussion of this phenomenon, types of technology were
divided into two categories: Process technology and information technology.
Process Technology is hardware and/or software that facilitate the actual
physical development of the product. This category can be further sub-divided
into computer aided design, computer aided patternmaking, computer aided
38
manufacturing and 3-D Body scanning/mass customization. Computer aided
design encompasses programs that facilitate creative sketching, presentation
boards, technical design, and textile design. Software programs used for these
purposes include Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Point-Caree, In-Design, and
Lectra Kaliedo. Computer Aided Patternmaking includes digitizing existing
patterns for grading and pre-production preparation, creating patterns from
existing slopers, digitizing draped muslins for completion on the computer, and
customizing patterns for made-to-measure clients. Taking the process another
step further, technological development has led to 3-D virtual assembly of the
pattern then evaluating the pattern on a virtual model complete with animation to
see the virtual model walk, thus enabling changing of color, pattern, proportion
and details of the design before realizing it in actual fabric. Computer aided
manufacturing includes cutting a large quantity of garments in a paperless
environment, using automated spreading and cutting, and for a few segments of
the industry going all the way to automated assembly. Computer-aided
manufacturing also includes supply-chain technology such as software for
Product Data Management and Product Lifecycle Management, both in local
networks and on the Internet.
Information Technology refers to the many methods that one can
communicate ideas, words, and images both locally and over the World Wide
Web. For the purpose of this study, it includes all of the previously-mentioned
Internet-based information dissemination methods: e-zines, podcasts,
myspace.com, youtube.com, secondlife.com, and blogs (both by industry
39
professionals and by consumers). In addition, Information Technology includes
web-based trend forecasting agencies; both subscription-based such as
wgsn.com, and those with free access, competitor’s websites as well as a myriad
of options with public access such as style.com, elle.com, infomat.com, and
cottoninc.com. This study has focused on the Information Technology
component of the technology paradigm because it is an area that has received
little attention in the literature.
This review of the context in which today’s Fashion Industry functions is by
no means comprehensive. The select components included here are intended to
ground this study in the historical foundation and to examine its evolution in order
to better explore the contemporary environment in order to effectively project
future changes.
Theoretical Domain
Cultural Change and Anthropology
The analysis of cultural change is rooted in an anthropological tradition.
This study drew from the cultural materialist perspective which categorized the
cultural environment into three components: ideology, social structure, and
technology (White 1959, Harris 1980, Hamilton 1987). Hamilton (1987) explained
that this framework was particularly effective to use when analyzing the textile
and apparel industry. All three researchers, White (1959), Harris (1980), and
Hamilton (1987) remarked that most often change in technology stimulates
change in the other two components of culture: social structure and ideology.
Consequently, this study made a vital contribution to understanding cultural shifts
40
occurring within the apparel industry in the early 21st century because it analyzed
the technological phenomenon of the Internet and its influence on fashion design
creativity.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Leslie White’s (1959) work examining
the affect of technology on cultural change was a revolutionary break from the
then-dominant theory of cultural evolution. Cultural evolution is rooted in the
belief that as a culture evolves the changes taking place are improvements from
the previous stage, leading to the “good of humankind”. As his career progressed
White introduced a different paradigm for change, in which the resulting change
is not necessarily for such a good and noble end; he remarked that in some
instances change is detrimental to the culture. An example given to make this
point is the dominance of the automobile industry in the USA during the 20th
century, creating a method of transportation that is polluting & destroying our
environment (Barrett, 1989).
When examining cultural change, White identified certain vectors that
become dominant due to various cultural conditions and observed how those
vectors affect change. White remarked that the most frequent vector for change
in culture is technology, as in the above automobile example. The cultural
condition for this study is the technologically-dominant early 21st century apparel
product development environment, and the vector for change that was examined
is the Internet. As with the automobile example above, the affect on the fashion
design process was examined, not from a cultural evolutionary perspective
41
where change is considered inherently good, but from the viewpoint that the
vector may be beneficial or detrimental to the cultural environment studied.
Relating this concept to the fashion industry generates thought-provoking
domains of inquiry that helped shape this study. Does the use of technology
enhance the creative process or does it limit the boundaries of creativity and
impose parameters of uniformity relative to the capacity of the technology? Does
the proliferation of information through the use of technology result in a customer
who is more interested in a creative product, or is does this information saturation
remove the elements of mystery and surprise? Is the creative designer’s work
facilitated by the availability of Information Technology, or does the simple nature
of the availability of the information render it useless to the creative fashion
design process? These and other domains of inquiry helped formulate the
content of the interviews.
Anthropologist Marvin Harris (1968) built on White’s concepts, and is most
well-known for his work examining cultural change from a structural perspective
that is known as cultural materialism. Both White (1959) and Harris (1980) were
strongly influenced by Karl Marx, however this study breaks away from the
Marxist-influenced cultural materialistic perspective by incorporating another of
White’s concepts, that of culturology, or culture as a system autonomous from its
physical surroundings (White, 1975).
Culturology and the Internet
Some scholars, and even White himself at one point, found a contradiction
between the two concepts; how could a culture exist as an autonomous system
42
without material components? Since the time of their discourse, however, an
entirely new culture has developed that truly does traverse the physical and
economic environments. Although the very existence of the Internet depends on
physical machines that have the capacity to link together, those tools for
accessing the Internet merely facilitate the existence of this new culture, much as
the earth provides a place for people to interact. The Internet resembles many of
the characteristics of culture that White described. It is “indifferent to the
welfare…or very existence of man” (White, 1975, p. 11); it obeys “laws of its own”
(White, 1975, p. 159).
The Internet reaches across national, cultural, and economic boundaries
creating a new phenomenon not yet experienced by humankind. The Internet is
a viable example of White’s culturology; he just didn’t live long enough to see it
exist. This study expanded the concept of culturology and combined it with
cultural materialism by examining the use of the Internet across cultures, time,
and space to explore the affect of technology on social structure and ideology in
the luxury-level fashion designer’s world.
Cultural Materialism and the Fashion Industry
Hamilton (1986) used the cultural materialistic perspective to develop a
metatheory for cultural analysis that is particularly appropriate for examination of
the fashion industry. Hamilton’s metatheory (1986) divided culture into three
layers, technology, social structure, and ideology, similar to Harris’s structure,
infrastructure and superstructure. Technology refers to the physical artifacts in
the culture, social structure to the way groups form to complete the tasks
43
necessary for survival, and ideology to the intellectual force behind their behavior
that defines the paradigm or world view of the members of the culture. When
change takes place in the technology layer, the effect is easily remarkable
(Harris, 1968, White, 1975, Hamilton, 1986).
Hamilton (1986) expanded the three basic layers or components of culture
by developing mechanisms for adaptation which guided the researcher through
exploring the context in which the culture exists in order to probe deeper into the
interaction between the creative process and the Internet. Exploring the
relationship of the mechanisms of economic organization, political organization,
family and kinship organization, socialization, ideological organization, arts and
aesthetics, and communication (Hamilton, 1985) to the components of culture
shaped this inquiry in the context of examining technology and creativity in
fashion design. Applying Hamilton’s (1987) Metatheory to the phenomenon was
extremely helpful, although by following the grounded theory (Creswell, 1998)
research process throughout data collection and analysis the areas of inquiry
were expanded and adapted according to emerging themes.
Research Method and Purpose
This study examined the creative process in fashion product development
and the affect of Internet technology on the creative development of luxury-level
fashion products. Over the course of the past 10 years, the Internet has grown in
importance. The literature review revealed many studies exploring the affect of
the Internet from the perspectives of consumer behavior and business practices
44
but none that examines how the Internet and affects the Design and Product
Development stage of the apparel chain.
This study examined the current dynamic between designers in the luxury
fashion industry and the Internet from a cultural materialistic perspective and has
increased understanding of the ways that the Internet is or is not used to inspire
creativity in luxury-level design. The literature review showed many published
studies that explore the Internet in terms of consumer behavior and e-commerce;
however the affect of Internet technology on the design and product development
phase of the fashion industry supply chain has not been addressed.
Through a series of in-depth interviews in an international context
following the grounded theory approach, this study explored the concept of
creativity separate from as well as within the apparel development context and
examined ways in which technology influenced the creative process. Designers
and industry professionals at the luxury level in both the US and France were
asked questions relating to the creative design and product development
process: how they perceive creativity, where they find inspiration, where/if the
creative process shifts according to the price-point, target selling price, or the
customer, how technology has influenced their work, and related areas. The
complete interview protocol (Creswell, 1998) can be found in the Appendix.
Grounded Theory
According to the grounded theory tradition (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000), each
interview was analyzed immediately. Using the constant comparative method, I
drew emergent categories from the data. Following interviews were affected by
45
the insight gleaned, either confirming or disconfirming those categories and in
some cases evolving into new directions. Further analysis established
relationships between the categories, resulting in theory that is grounded in the
data. The methodology chapter explains this process in depth.
Application of Findings
This study developed a better understanding of the creative process in
relation to fashion design and the influence of the Internet on creativity in the
design and product development of luxury-level fashion. Drawing on the results,
designers, educators, students, managers, business owners, and art directors
alike will be able to improve their working methods, resulting in more efficient,
beneficial and profitable endeavors. Managers and business owners will be able
to make more educated decisions regarding the acquisition of software and
subscription-based services. They will have a better idea how to support the
creative efforts of their designers, thus resulting in higher productivity and profit
margins.
Educators will find this study useful as they develop curricula that prepare
designers, product developers and managers to work in this new paradigm
where use of the Internet is prominent. Designers will gain by applying bestpractice principles to their own working process and by consciously
understanding the changes that are taking place at social structural and
ideological levels of their immediate micro-culture and the larger macro-culture in
which the fashion industry functions.
46
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
To develop a foundation for effective exploration of the influence of
technology on the creative process in fashion design, literature from several
sources was examined. Readings relating to qualitative research methods,
theory development, relevant academic research and analysis, business
methods, current trends and shifts in the apparel industry and the world economy
were used to form the basis for this research. The dynamic nature of the subject
of technology and creative fashion design combined with the topics’ dependence
on forces outside the academic arena led to enhancing the academic literature
review with extensive readings in trade publications.
A review of the literature from academic sources for this study included
journals and books specific to the field of textiles and apparel, but also those
relevant studies pertaining to retailing, consumer sciences, anthropology,
psychology, aesthetics, design, marketing, economics and business. This survey
of literature revealed that the influence of Internet technology on creative fashion
design inspiration is a specific area that has received little attention in both
academic and trade press.
Fashion
In a rather simplistic manner, Diamond and Diamond describe fashion as
“a style accepted by the majority of a group” (2002, p.90). Style is defined as “the
combination of design features that give a garment its distinctive appearance”
(Conway, 1997, p. 202). Fashion, according to Webster's Third New International
47
Dictionary is “1) the prevailing or accepted style or group of styles in dress or
personal decoration established or adopted during a particular time or season. 2)
[When capitalized] such prevailing customs or styles considered as an abstract
force” (1986).
Recent writings about fashion from outside of the United States focus on
the cultural aspects of fashion. Kawamura (2004, 2005) from Japan, Vinken
(2005), from Switzerland, and Wilson (2003) from England, contributed to the
discussion in distinct, complementary ways. One common characteristic of their
work, however, was that each of the authors began with a discussion of the
controversial nature of fashion studies, describing ways that the study of fashion
has been marginalized in academic circles, criticized in feminist circles and
reduced to simple buying and selling in business circles (Kawamura, 2005;
Vinken, 2005; Wilson, 2003).
Fashion has also been defined in terms of a socio-cultural phenomenon
(Workman & Freeburg, 2009). Barbara Vinken of the University of Zurich
examined “trends and cycles in the fashion system” (Vinken, 2005) by discussing
the social-cultural divisions fashion reflected during the 18th and early 19th
centuries, defining the mid-19th to mid-20th century as the era of “One hundred
years of fashion”, and establishing the present as a period of post-fashion.
Vinken’s discussion of fashion differed from others in that she focused on the
“correlation of three major conceptual articulations: the division of being and
mere appearance; the division of the sexes; and – inseparably linked to the latter
–division of the classes” (Vinken, 2005, p. 4). Vinken referenced Torstein Veblen
48
who, in Theory of the Leisure Class (1919), articulated a foundation for
discussing gender and class distinction in dress.
Kawamura, in her book, Fashion-ology (2005) works to establish fashion
as a legitimate sub-field of sociology, through an exhaustive literature review.
She successfully defined Fashion as an abstract force, separate from clothing or
any other vehicle that may be used to convey the fashion concept. In addition to
this important contribution, Kawamura examined the sociological environment
that fostered fashion, examining cities and cultures that promote the
development of fashion. As a precursor to Fashion-ology, Kawamura (2004)
wrote the Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion, where she described how
shifting their businesses to Paris catapulted Japanese designers such as Kenzo,
Yoji Yamamoto and Hanae Mori to global renown. She also defined the
evolution of the fashion system in France in the 20th century and how that
influenced the global fashion system. The role of France is also highlighted by
Parmal who, together with Didier Grumbach (Grumbach, et. Al, 2007), defined
the historical foundation for contemporary French fashion and describe its role in
the larger fashion system.
Early in her book, Adorned in Dreams, Wilson (2003) grounded a
discussion of fashion as “dress in which the key feature is rapid and continual
changing of styles” (Wilson, 2003, p.3). Later in the text she contributed to the
discussion of the separation of the concept of fashion from dependence on the
physical artifacts that provide a tangible representation of the concept. Wilson
(2003) combined a historic discussion of fashion with contemporary themes that
49
provided a well-rounded analysis of the phenomenon. “Fashion is a branch of
aesthetics, of the art of modern society. It is also a mass pastime, a form of
group entertainment, of popular culture. Related as it is to both fine art and
popular art, it is a kind of performing art” (Wilson, 2003, p.60). Although some,
especially those in the fine and performing arts, may find this description to be
overstated, for those who truly understand the complexities of the phenomenon
of fashion Wilson has quite effectively described the essence of fashion in
today’s cultural and business environments.
The Fashion business is defined as all companies and individuals
concerned with the design, production, and distribution of textile and apparel
goods (Dickerson, 2003). Frequently included under the discussion of the
fashion business are components of the industry such as accessories, jewelry,
and perfume (Dickerson, 2003).
Although many who write about the social/cultural/psychological aspects
of fashion preface their work with a discussion about the many ways fashion is
reluctantly accepted in academic circles (Kawamura, 2004, 2005; Vinken, 2005;
Wilson 2003), obvious strides have been made to bring the fashion discussion
into a more respected light. Within the past 10 years, an additional academic
journal, Fashion Theory, provides a platform for critical analysis of the
phenomenon of fashion in a highly academic manner. A search of the Fashion
Theory archives, however, revealed no attention given to the relationship
between creativity and technology. Berg, the publishers of Fashion Theory, has
announced the launch of another related journal, Fashion Practice. This journal’,
50
called for exploration of design theory and technology in relation to the fashion
industry, an area of academic exploration this study specifically addresses.
In addition, the fashion, academic and journalistic communities were
startled in 2006 when Washington fashion columnist Robin Givhan received the
Pulitzer Prize for criticism “for her witty, closely observed essays that transform
fashion criticism into cultural criticism”
(http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2006/criticism/). In an interview, Givhan described
her approach to fashion writing, “If there's one thing that I can do, it would be to
convince people that when they get dressed in the morning, they are participating
in fashion. That's what it is. Fashion is what you wear and how you want to
present yourself to the world” (Moriarty, 2006, p.26).
Creativity
Research about creativity generally comes from three fields: business,
education, and philosophy. Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1940) approaches the
imaginary from an existentialist perspective. His discussion of the
“consciousness of imitation (Sartre, 1940, p. 26)” is quite relevant to the process
of creativity in fashion design, where “the sign consciousness serves to motivate
the image consciousness … at the same time, a functional transformation of the
perceived object, which passes from the state of signifying matter to the state of
representative matter” (Sartre, 2004, p. 26). Sartre continues to discuss ways in
which the non-real influences our perception and therefore the reality that we
recognize, describe and create. This study examines the non-tangible
51
phenomenon of the Internet and how it influences the designer’s perception of
creativity and the creative process.
Sartre developed a “phenomenological psychology of the imagination” in
which the creative process passes through four stages: Consciousness, Quasiobservation, Post the object as nothingness, and spontaneity (Sartre, 2004).
Ambrose et.al. (2003) describe a similar progression in the creative process:
(1) broad, comprehensive, open and purposeful, selective
perception; (2) analyzing and synthesizing; (3) logical combining and free
associative thinking; (4) a broad general knowledge base and topicspecific knowledge; (5) ‘pieces of reality’ and imagined elements.
(Ambrose et. al., 2003, p. 88)
Creativity in design has been described as flowing through the following
steps: “(1) Inspiration; (2) Identification; (3) Conceptualization; (4)
Exploration/Refinement; (5) Definition/Modeling; (6) Communication; (7)
Production” (Aspelund, 2006, p. 10). Fiore, Kimle & Moreno (1996) completed a
review of aesthetic literature and reported their findings by grouping them in
components for the design process: (1) the logical mental component; (2) the
unconscious mental component (3) the sensual component; (4) the emotional
component; and the (5) spiritual component. Labat and Sokolowski (1999)
describe a 3-stage design process comprised of the following stages: (1)
Problem definition and research; (2) Creative Exploration; (3) Implementation.
Lamb and Kallal (1992) developed an apparel design framework that includes
52
these steps: (1) Problem Identification; (2) Preliminary ideas; (3) Design
refinement; (4) Prototype development; (5) Evaluation; and (6) Implementation.
In Linda Melrose’s phenomenological study of the creative process (1989),
she conducted long interviews with “individuals who are described by their peers
as exhibiting exceptional creativity” (Melrose, 1989, p. 5). In addition to
addressing typical areas related to creativity that involve the creative process,
she explored many personal psychological factors, such as childhood
experiences, life issues, and self-perceptions and examined ways they
influenced the individual’s creativity.
Frequently cited in texts that discuss creativity is Howard Gartner’s (1993)
work, Creating Minds, which began by discussing approaches to creativity, then
continued to explore the lives, work, and minds of some of the most creative
people in the last century and a half, such as Gandhi, Freud, Stravinsky and
Martha Graham. He then analyzed his findings and pondered the evolution of
creativity and creative education into the 21st century.
An anthology of prominent psychologists and educators contributed to a
body of work that explores a wide variety of views on the creative process. Most
relevant to this study of creativity in fashion design is the chapter on “Art and
Science, Ancient and Modern: A Psychoeconomic Perspective on Domain
Differences in Creativity” (Ambrose et. al., 2003, p. 131). In this chapter, Daniel
Rubenson discusses constraints on the creative process, including time
constraints, balancing challenge and ability, major creativity and every-day
creativity, the dichotomy of appropriate and original.
53
The importance of creativity in today’s business world is effectively
discussed in Harari’s book, Break from the Pack: How to Compete in a Copycat
Economy (2006). Harari describes the “Copycat Economy, where everyone has
access to the same resources and talent, where the Web is the great equalizer
and where the market’s twin foundations are imitation and commoditization”
(Harari, 2006, p. 16). Through case studies this book provides thought-provoking
principles relevant to effective business leaders in the 21st century.
Creativity is so important in the new economy that Richard Florida (2002)
describes a new social category called the creative class; a distinct group that is
defined, not by the material objects they posses, but by the creative contributions
they make to the economy. Florida describes the “3 T’s of economic
development: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance” (Florida, 2005, p. 37). He
argues that creativity flourishes and develops best in an open, diverse
environment. Thomas Friedman (2006) emphasizes the importance of creativity,
not only in the production of tangible products, but also in the creation of
business models and in the ways individuals adapt to the changing global
environment.
There has also been a heightened awareness of creativity in fashion
demonstrated through the topic of a symposium sponsored by New York fashion
schools. In 2006, an organization called Initiatives in Art and Culture sponsored
a conference at The Parsons New School called Cutting Edge: Fashion and the
Avant-Garde, where leading fashion designers spoke about creativity in their
work
54
(www.artinitiatives.com/public/Upcomingconferences/CuttingEdge/tabid/56/Defau
lt.aspx).
Technology
Discussion of technology and fashion centers around these themes:
apparel development and assembly, the interactive in-store experience (Zargani,
2007), supply-chain efficiency, mass-customization, and e-commerce. A search
on April 10, 2007 of the archives (from 1994 to present) of the benchmark US
apparel industry trade publication Women’s Wear Daily using the keywords
“design technology” rendered 21,126 results. An order to gain a sense of
relatively recent interest on the topic, a search of the WWD archives with the
term creativity restricting the results to the last five years (2003-2007), lent 677
results. Interestingly enough, the first four articles, when sorted for relevance,
were from France, Japan, and Spain, respectively, revealing a need to explore
this topic from a North American perspective.
Academic study of related topics
Related studies in textile and apparel academic journals included analysis
of local economic activity in Houston, Texas (Park, 1985), analysis of the
influence of computer technology on the apparel industry and education in
Quebec, (Hill, 1993), and the perception by apparel industry business owners of
CAD service companies (Coelho, 1994). Koza (1996) explored efficient learning
environments for computer-based technology in the fashion design area. Beard
(2001) and Mathur (2001) researched the learning process when teaching of
fashion design is grounded in the use of computer technology.
55
The creative apparel design process has had limited attention in the
academic literature. Although Swearingen (1999) had the word creativity in the
title, her work focused on fit and body image. Bailey (1998) proposed a
conceptual model about the creative design process, based on personal
documentation of line development. Beatrice Le Pechoux (2000) explored the
language of creativity with the scope of contributing to efficient communication in
the design development process. Grant McCracken (1986) explored cultural
meaning in consumer society, addressing the characteristics of the fashion
industry to illustrate concepts related to culture and consumption. He defined
product designers as “agents who gather up cultural meaning and affect its
transfer to consumer goods” (McCracken, 1986, p. 77).
Teaching creative apparel design is a subject extensively covered in
proceedings for the International Textile and Apparel Association Annual
meetings. Murray (2005) completed a qualitative study exploring the creative
process experienced by fashion design students and found that the students’
creative process paralleled the steps defined in literature that describes the
creative process. Rudd & Riley (2004) described a course in which they focused
on a variety of fashion illustration techniques to generate creative design ideas.
Similarly, Lee (2005) explained a process of generating creative design ideas
through integrating a systematic and holistic approach to collection development.
Kim & Beck (2003) worked with students who chose to adopt the Lamb &
Kallal (1994) apparel design framework to follow while creating experimental
fashion designs. Student evaluation of the process revealed support of the
56
framework as an effective guide in the creative development of fashion design
ideas. Rudd and Chattaramman (2005) provided a comprehensive overview of
the theory development and corresponding models and frameworks in relation to
fashion design and product development. Building on those models, the authors
described a capstone course in which the students chose an existing brand and
developed a line for that brand. Dragoo (2004) described a similar process of
guiding students to focus on a specific brand in the product development
process. Both of these papers incorporated student presentations to
representatives from an outside company that gave positive feedback. Lee
(2003) described collaboration with a local carpet manufacturer to develop a
creative interaction that enabled the carpet manufacturer to gain insight from the
young designers at the university.
Design inspiration was examined in an international context where Mete
(2006) described a research project in which she examined inspirational sources
from both the student and industry points of view in Turkey. A pivotal paper
published in the Long Range Planning Journal by Paola Cillo and Gianmario
Verona (2008) explores innovation strategies in fashion firms in a manner that
renders the data applicable to any industry where new product innovation is
important, applying the findings to the small electronics industry. The authors
contribute to the study of the process of change and “highlight the importance of
triggers exacting change” (Cillo & Verona, 2008). The research defines two types
of firms, those that are market-driven and those that are designer-driven.
Technological innovation has traditionally pushed consumers to purchase new
57
electronics, however Apple, Inc. has demonstrated that innovative design can
push sales when using existing technology. The luxury industry has been
studied in the context of innovative design development because of the dynamic
and easily noticeable importance given to stylistic changes (Cappetta, Cillo, &
Ponti, 2006). Similarly, a study of the fashion industry in Montebelluna in
Northern Italy rendered conclusions relevant to the general development of
creative networks in industrial districts (Aage, & Belussi, 2008).
The closest research to the topic of this study, technology and design
creativity, discovered so far focuses on the use of computer software programs
to facilitate the design process. Secor (1994) researched the interaction between
computer usage and its affect on styling and creativity. She used quantitative
methods to determine the primary reason that companies implemented CAD, and
concluded that computer technology had a positive effect on the designer’s
styling and creative performance. Campbell and Parsons (2004) described the
evolution of their creative process in response to the technologies of digital
printing of 3-D imagery and video, posing questions related to the intersection of
image and form. Consumer interest in mass customization and co-design of
apparel was explored by Ulrich, Anderson-Connell & Weifang (2003) however
the study did not address the aesthetic and creative implications of such an
endeavor.
In the first of a three-part review of aesthetics literature, Fiore, Kimle &
Moreno (1996) focused on the creator and the creative process, defining
creativity as “the developed skill of bringing about something new and valuable”
58
(Fiore, Kimle & Moreno, 1996, p. 32). They examined psychological,
educational, and socio-cultural, influences on the creative individual. Their
analysis of the literature related to the creative process brings to the discussion
some very interesting concepts, including the idea that “the creative process
includes sensory satisfaction resulting from the engagement with the art medium”
(Fiore, Kimle & Moreno, 1996, p. 36). The summary section of this article called
for the type of research I propose here, by stating, “Researchers could identify
whether and how the introduction of new technology has an effect on the
aesthetic experience” (Fiore, Kimle & Moreno, 1996, p. 38).
Theoretical domain
Hamilton (1987) developed a metatheory defining a paradigmatic
perspective derived from cultural anthropology that is particularly appropriate for
this study.
Dress is a sub-cultural system, unique in its particular
cultural manifestation but universal in the fact of its expression.
Like the macro-cultural system in which dress functions, the cultural
sub-system of dress consists of three primary and distinctive but
interrelated and interactive components: technology (material
culture), social structure (social behavior), and ideology (beliefs,
attitudes, values). These components cut across the various
mechanisms through which human groups organize themselves as
social beings to adapt and survive. These mechanisms include:
economic organization, political organization, family and kinship
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organization, socialization, ideological organization, arts and
aesthetics, and communication. The interactive nature of the
components and mechanisms of culture imply a dynamic system of
influence and change (Hamilton, 1987).
This study examined on the fashion system while probing into influences
upon the cultural arbiters of fashion. Hamilton (1997) also posed some questions
relating to the interaction between the macro-level culture and the fashion system
that aided in shaping this research.
What are the mechanisms by which the macro-level cultural and fashion
systems evolve a menu of fashion forms and meanings to present to
individuals who then select, reject, and reshape [them]? How are
presentations to individual consumers pre-edited, and according to what
agendas? (1997)
Hamilton's paper called for a
meta-analysis of fashion -- an assessment of what we know about fashion:
how it is conceived; how it operates in individuals' lives over time as they
negotiate their own social worlds; how it operates in the marketplace
where consumers and generators of fashion interface; how it operates
among macro-level generators of fashion; and how the answers to these
questions vary across categories of fashion consumers, fashion-system
arbitrators, and cultural systems (1997).
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This is an enormous task, more than any one professional could hope to
accomplish in a lifetime; this research project will address a part of that request,
exploring the work of the generators of fashion.
Affect of the literature review on the research process
This review of literature has provided a solid foundation in the study of
technology, creativity, and fashion design. Although some researchers suggest
that grounded theory research be done without an extensive literature review, I
agree with McCracken (1988) that “the good literature review is a critical process
that makes the investigator the master, not the captive, of previous scholarship”.
It is important to understand the current status of study in the field, in order to
define the “conscious and unconscious assumptions of scholarly enterprise”
(McCracken, 1988). Having read and analyzed the work presented has enabled
me to define ways in which my research is distinct from work that has been
previously completed, hopefully contributing significantly to the field of fashion
study.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
Conceptual Approaches to Social Science Research
Since the early 20th century, social science research has been dominated
by two, in some ways contradictory, paradigms that concern both epistemology
and methodology. While there are variations on these two themes, and different
scholars use different language in writing about them, they may be generally
described as positivist versus interpretivist approaches to social science
research.
In summary a positivist approach assumes, usually implicitly, that there is
one reality and one truth to be discovered, and that human behavior is
measurable. Thus, in the conduct of research, value is placed on control over
the process, and the approach is a linear one. The emphasis in the conduct of
research is on reinforcing conceptions of objectivity and precision in
measurement. Because of these emphases, positivist research in the social
sciences is usually referred to as quantitative. In such studies, the research
goals and the steps in achieving them are established a priori, that is, early in the
process, and when established, they cannot easily be altered once the research
process is underway. Moreover, the nature of studies thus implemented tends to
be deductive and result in a confirmation, refinement, or refutation of some
existing theory. Finally, a positivist approach to research assumes that the
theory used and the a priori established research questions are the most relevant
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to the overall research goal. Such studies are usually deductive and do not lend
themselves to new theoretical development.
By contrast, an interpretivist approach assumes, often explicitly, that there
is no single reality. Researchers who assume an interpretivist approach,
therefore, rely on theory as a guide, allowing the unfolding data to suggest the
next step. The researcher negotiates the research questions, data collection, and
data analysis, throughout the process. It follows that interpretivist research, the
implementation of which is usually called a qualitative approach, may not always
lead to where the researcher initially intended to go. Thus, high value is placed
on an a posteriori research process, one that encourages the researcher to go
where the data lead. Such studies are inductive, thus inviting the possibility of
new theoretical development.
Qualitative Research and Design Strategy
Qualitative research, as defined above, is an important part of an
"interpretive science in search of meaning" (Geertz, 1973). Human beings
impose meaning on their environment; thus, the rules that apply to the study of
non-human phenomena do not apply to the study of human phenomena. The
findings that are presented are the phenomena studied, answering why, and
how, rather than what and when.
Various types of qualitative approaches may be used by researchers to
explore diverse phenomena. Participant-observation, case studies, and group
and individual interviews are commonly used approaches (Creswell, 1998). In
participant-observation the researcher tries to immerse him or herself in the
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subject of the study to become a member of that group. One observes and
participates as much as possible in order to understand the context in which the
phenomenon of interest manifests. This is a complex process, because it is
difficult to pass from an etic, or outsider viewpoint which produces abstract,
conceptual language regarding what the researcher now knows about the
subject, to an emic, or inside viewpoint, in which the researcher attempts to get
at the subject's understandings of themselves and their conception of reality.
Participant observation requires a large amount of time and the data collected
can be vast, depending on the specific research study. A less extensive yet
equally valid approach to qualitative research is the case study. The case study
method was not chosen because a “bounded system” (Stake, 2000) is required
for an efficient case study. In order for it to function, the case must have an
established set of patterned behaviors that are consistent and sequential, which
is not the situation for this study.
There are two approaches to interviewing. One is the focus group, which
is basically a group interview. The use of focus groups was developed initially by
marketing researchers, typically employed when the researcher is not certain of
the specific research question and wants to explore a theme to see where it
might lead. When the researcher is interested in a topic she or he believes will
render richer data if respondents can play off one another, a focus group
provides a forum for exploration. Respondents may not even be aware of the
specific research goals. Individual comments affect the contributions of the
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others, and it is the role of the researcher to guide the discussion in a productive
way.
Individual interviewing is the most personalized and intimate approach to
qualitative data gathering. Rapport building is important, and the researcher
must be conscious of the ways in which he or she may bias the interview data.
Planning and rehearsing the interview process is important to provide continuity
in data collection, as well as to enable the researcher to obtain the maximum
amount of data from each source
The Long Interview
Working from the assumption that the Internet is a relatively new
component of the apparel system, I completed long interviews (McCracken,
1988) of fashion designers and industry professionals to investigate ways in
which the phenomenon of the Internet enhances or hinders the fashion design
process, explored barriers to its use, advantages to its use, and the Internet’s
projected affect on the future of the apparel industry. Long interviews were the
most appropriate data gathering method for this research for several reasons.
Aside from considering the extensive time and logistical commitment that
participant observation would require, it is unlikely that in the competitive fashion
industry companies would open their doors to a researcher who they could
perceive as violating their privacy. A long interview, in the words of Grant
McCracken “gives us access to individuals without participant observation,
unobtrusive observation, or prolonged contact. It allows us, in other words, to
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achieve crucial qualitative objectives within a manageable methodological
context” (1988).
The primary topic of this research addressed design inspiration for luxurylevel products. An important part of the study examined the creative process and
the affect of the Internet on creativity, using fashion design creativity as a subject
of study. Interviews explored areas such as: How do designers perceive
creativity? How important is creativity in fashion design? How does today’s
technology affect a fashion designer’s creativity? How does the product’s price
point/target market affect the level of creativity a designer strives for? Another
component of the study looked at a designer’s inspiration. What sources do
luxury-level designers refer to for inspiration? How do they use these sources?
What is the relationship between the inspiration and the product category?
Between the inspiration and the consumer? These areas were explored to build
rapport and set the foundation to probe into the designer’s perception and use of
technology. Questions related to the designers’ use of technology, both Process
Technology and Information Technology, led to questions that explored how
technology affects the designer in other areas, such as travel, quantity and
quality of work, and the designer’s perception of customer expectations.
Exploratory perspective: Unifying Metatheory for Clothing and Textiles
Hamilton’s (1987) Unifying Metatheory for Clothing and Textiles functioned
as the springboard for reflection as I developed the domains of inquiry and the
resulting interview schedule. Drawing from White (1959) and Harris (1980),
Hamilton defined the components of culture as technology, social structure, and
66
ideology, while identifying mechanisms for adaptation within a culture as
economic organization, political organization, family and kinship organization,
arts and aesthetics, communication, ideological organization, and socialization.
Examining the cultural environment in which a fashion designer functions from
this paradigmatic perspective provided a thorough analysis of the phenomenon
from a variety of standpoints. Drawing from this inspiration throughout the
research design, data collection and analysis processes, the domains of inquiry
evolved into areas that went beyond the initial interview schedule.
Exploring the designer’s ideology, I attempted to establish the
interviewee’s current creative state and to examine his or her position relative to
the concept of inspiration. Using Hamilton’s (1987) mechanisms for adaptation, I
looked at ways in which the social structure feeds into this ideology, exploring the
economic and political organization, focusing on the Internet’s influence on the
decision-making process which brings a design to the consumer. Socialization,
family and kinship mechanisms spurred the examination of the structure of the
social/cultural network of activities surrounding the fashion design process when
the Internet is involved.
Addressing the arts and aesthetics mechanism in relation to technology, I
explored the designer’s use of technology, discussing the methods used to
design: drawings by hand and/or computer, both technical and fashion drawings;
draping &/or patternmaking; methods used for inspiration: travel, Internet, trend
information services, magazines and software programs. In addition to
identifying tangible evidence of the use of technology, I explored how technology
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has changed the structure of the design process, including issues related to the
ideological mechanism by exploring the concept of the Internet as a threat,
creating the uncertain and unknown.
Following the communications mechanism in relation to technology, social
structure and ideology, I probed into the designer’s relationship with the
consumer, asking questions related to the role the consumer plays in the
designer’s creative process, and how the designer gains consumer information.
Questions such as the following evolved by including the communication
mechanism: How does the designer think that the consumer gets his/her
information? In what ways do you consider the consumer when designing
clothing at the beginning of the process?
Domains of Inquiry
This cultural analysis was used as a foundation for developing the
domains of inquiry which shaped the interview schedule. Although by nature an
exploratory study evolves during the research process at the onset this study
addressed the following domains of inquiry:
1. How do luxury-level designers perceive creativity?
2. How does the Internet influence the work of fashion designers at the luxury
level?
3. How does luxury-level fashion design incorporate the popular customercentered approach to product development?
4. What are the values that shape the luxury-level designer’s work?
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5. How does the Internet influence the values and behavior of luxury-level
fashion designers?
6. With the advent of the Internet and its complex implications, is there a
paradigm shift in the luxury-level fashion designer’s behavior?
The interviews were enriched by using the grounded theory method to
expand these initial domains of inquiry. The resulting process enabled
developing a typology for creativity and for technology while exploring the
Internet as a vector for change in the working methods of fashion designers.
Determination of Subjects
Subjects were chosen for this study based on the principle of theoretical
sampling (Creswell, 1998). I chose a group of participants with the similar
characteristic of having professional experience in the creative product
development phase of apparel development for the luxury fashion industry. To
recruit participants, I approached a number of designers and industry
professionals in France and the United States, most of who agreed to allow me
to interview them for this study. After gaining approval from the Institutional
Review Board, the data collection process was accomplished by completing long
interviews (McCracken, 1988) with 11 fashion industry professionals who have
experience in the luxury market and who were accessible. Figure 3.1 provides
the profiles of these participants broken down into relevant categories.
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Number of respondents by category
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
Figure 3.1 Respondents by geographic area and profession type.
Data Collection Experience
I contacted each of the participants by email to initiate contact, and then I
talked with him or her on the telephone to set up the interview. I followed the
phone call with another email to which I attached the interview questions and the
1
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consent to participate form. I was able to interview all but three of the
Owner of and
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participants
in person.
Those three interviews were conducted on the phone.
All
designer for own manufacturing
forecasting
United States
women’s apparel
business
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interviews were digitally recorded. One of the participants refused to sign the
Geographic area and profession category
consent form, saying that the fact that he was talking to me was consent enough,
Figure
1 Respondents
and I have
the3.
voice
recording ofby
hisgeographic
agreement.area and profession type.
Although the French participants all work in Paris, the American
participants are located throughout the United States. Three of the participants
live in the Los Angeles, California region, and one lives in each of these
locations: Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; and Columbia, Missouri. While
the study’s intent is not to compare and contrast the two countries, in choosing
participants I strove to include professionals of similar profiles from each country.
One of the trend forecasters works in France and one in the US. I interviewed a
French designer who shows during the Haute Couture shows and a New York
Designer who sells at the couture price point. I interviewed a textile designer
based in France, and one based in the US. I was able to interview the President
of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt a Porter et des Couturiers in Paris; however
his counterpart in the US, the President of the Council of Fashion Designers of
70
America refused the interview. I was able to interview a former President of
Design of a major US apparel corporation, however, and consider her position to
be parallel to the French Chambre Syndicale president in many ways, given his
industry experience.
The participants range in years of experience. The two trend forecasters
and three of the designer/owners are in their early to mid 30s, having received a
formal fashion education and having worked in the fashion industry since
graduation. The two textile designers and two of the owners/designers range in
age from 45-65. Three of these have received a formal fashion education and
have been working in the fashion industry since graduation. One studied creative
writing and has been working in fashion for 15 years. Two of the participants are
over 65, and have been fashion industry professionals their entire adult lives.
Both of these received a marketing/business education. The participant
nationalities are American, French, British, and Australian. Participant birth
countries include China, England, France, Australia, Morocco, and the United
States. The diversity of the participants in age, geographic location, origin, and
experience lends credibility to this exploratory study, providing the potential for a
wide range of responses. At the same time the unifying characteristics, related
to education, experience and current professional activity provide necessary
cohesiveness to the process.
The interviews were digitally recorded and then transcribed by the
researcher into Microsoft Word documents. Those documents were manually
analyzed using the open coding (Creswell, 1998) method after each interview.
71
After completion of all of the interviews, I learned the Nvivo software through
completing the tutorials, converted the .doc files into .rtf files and began to code
the interviews using Nvivo. The first step of analysis using Nvivo was to continue
the open coding process by coding each interview response according to the
questions on the interview protocol, creating trees and nodes, or categories of
responses, in Nvivo. This process of open coding led to axial coding (Creswell,
1998), as I identified variables that led to specific phenomena and concepts. I
then identified a posteriori themes that related to strategies participants
developed in relation to those phenomena in subtly interesting ways, which, in
Nvivo, created new trees and nodes. Having coded all of the interviews, I then
opened the “questions” nodes and coded within each question to determine
commonalities among responses and to discover new areas of thought. Overall
the process resulted in 14 free and 57 tree nodes, or categories and
subcategories of responses.
Having completed all of the Nvivo data analysis in a paperless format, on
the computer screen, I then printed out each of the categories, or nodes, of
related concepts. Returning to a more traditional qualitative data analysis
method, I then read all of the data and hand-coded any additional themes. After
this thorough analysis, being sure that I had included the examination of the
context and consequences of the phenomena and concepts drawn from the data,
I organized the related themes into a cohesive manner with a logical flow,
explored relevant literature and wrote the data analysis chapter. The final phase
in the data review process was to re-read each of the initial interview transcripts,
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enriching the findings where appropriate, ensuring that data for the categories
were saturated (Creswell, 1998).
Grounded Theory
The foregoing discussion has described data gathering and analysis
strategies common to qualitative researchers. In addition to choices regarding
how to generate data, qualitative researchers also make philosophical decisions,
explicit or implicit, regarding their approach to data gathering and analysis. The
approach taken in this study is one of grounded theory, explicated first by Glaser
and Strauss (1967) and then by Strauss and Corbin (1990). In essence,
grounded theory is an approach to data analysis intended to lead to the
discovery of new theoretical concepts or understanding about the phenomenon
under investigation. As such, while previous theory and research may be useful
in directing the initial conversations with participants, the researcher is quick to
abandon any pre-determined agenda for investigation, within limits, of course,
and follow, with regard to the general topic, where the participant leads. Thus,
the researcher opens the door to the discovery of relevant phenomena,
understanding, and relationships among phenomena and concepts that s/he may
not have previously considered at all. This approach, then, celebrates the
likelihood that the participant's categories and content are more germane to
understanding the phenomenon under investigation than are the researcher's
preconceived assumptions regarding what would be important to explore.
Fundamental to grounded theory analysis is the idea that data are
analyzed, at least initially, soon after they are generated, and preferably before
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other data are collected. As a result, the researcher is most likely to identify
some idea or theme, one which otherwise might well be lost altogether, and
explore it for its efficacy and content with successive participants. The initial
analysis consists of identifying concepts, categorizing, searching for seminal
relationships among them, and constantly comparing (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) or
checking one's understanding from one point in time against new data and
understanding.
These data were analyzed in a way consistent with the foregoing
description, with the identification of concepts, categories, and relationships
among categories. After each interview, notes and/or recordings were reviewed,
transcribed and analyzed for themes and categories. That process alone
resulted in more systematic consideration of interview data than would occur by
simply repeating the same interview protocol for each interview. Relationships
among categories began to emerge during the data gathering process, and
subsequent interviews integrated emerging categories. By the end of the datagathering process a meta-analysis of data using Nvivo software enabled a global
view of the research data.
Working, therefore, from the above interpretivist social science paradigm,
this study examined the effect of change in technology as it affects the
development of luxury-level fashion products. Within the anthropological tradition,
this qualitative research project applied the grounded theory method and
developed themes relative to creativity and the influence of the Internet as a
cultural system on apparel design and product development. Working from the
74
assumption that the Internet has created change in the apparel system, the
study’s intent was to explore ways in which this phenomenon improves or
hinders the fashion design process, barriers to the Internet’s use and application,
advantages to the use of the Internet, and the projected implications of Internet
use on the future of the apparel industry.
The goal of grounded theory qualitative studies of this type is to discover
concepts and develop theories based on those concepts. Although theory
development is not required in academic study (Pederson, 2007), it has been
noted that the field of clothing and textiles has experienced significant, yet limited
theory development (Pederson, 2007). This study established a typology for
creativity in fashion design and explored the influence of technology on a fashion
designer, leading to theory development related to creativity in fashion design
and the influence of Internet technology on fashion designers.
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CHAPTER 4: DESCRIPTIVE FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Transcripts from interviews with luxury-level fashion designers, industry
executives and trend forecasters from the U.S. and France were analyzed. The
interview schedule began with a general discussion of creativity and the creative
process, eventually shifting the focus to creativity in fashion design, looking at
inspirational sources and finally discussing creativity and technology in relation to
fashion design. All of the interviews covered each of these domains of inquiry,
although none of the interviews strictly stayed with only the pre-established
questions. Following grounded theory (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) principles,
questions were added and adapted as each interview was analyzed in order to
build upon the concepts discovered during the course of the research process.
The analysis of data that follows flows loosely through the same structure as the
interviews, however themes discovered from the data independent of the
domains of inquiry are integrated as the researcher deemed relevant.
The Creative Process
Defining Creativity
The initial question asked was, "What is your perception of creativity?"
Responses ranged from overarching comments to synthesized, direct definitions.
When the discussion narrowed to the respondents’ reaction to his or her personal
creative development, comments ranged from objective, macro-oriented
descriptions to subjective, personal responses. Overarching comments related to
the concept that creativity is part of every aspect of life. "It’s really a key word of
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life; there is creativity in food, in architecture, even in the everyday behavior of
people. We have to be creative” (AVH, 2007). "Creativity is necessary and
never-ending. Nothing exists without some creativity. Creativity is everything”
(GL, 2007).
I know that is kind of abstract, but I really think we come to earth to realize
that we are creators....in reality everyone has that mission; we are here to
create a reality. And my view of it is if we are going to create a reality let’s
make it as beautiful and joyful as we can....it is divine, and within all of us.
(SK, 2007)
Other responses were synthesized, direct definitions. “[Creativity] is the
ability and the desire to solve problems without a preconceived concept of the
outcome of the process; creativity is having the enthusiasm and the opportunity
to solve the problem” (TP, 2007). “Creativity is the stimulation of the imagination;
the utilization of the imagination” (AL, 2007). “Creativity is thinking differently”
(GL, 2007).
A central theme relative to several responses related to the personal and
individual nature of creativity. "Creativity comes from the human mind” (TP,
2007). "Somebody who is able to think outside of the box” (WM, 2007). "I
perceive it as the expression of individual desire” (SK, 2007). "I don’t look for it.
It’s more like it comes to me naturally” (MT, 2007). "Creativity is some way to
give something of ourselves... Creativity is a really hard process because you
really give something from inside” (AVH, 2007).
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Creativity Blends Intellect and Emotion
The creative process begins internally, where intellect and emotions
blend, developing imagination that "is stimulated by knowledge” (AL, 2007).
“Yes, [creativity is] being able to learn. That [creativity] is part of the greater
process; [it] is having a lot of space to learn so that the new ideas can come in”
(SR, 2007). The knowledge base required for the creative process was
described as far-reaching.
Knowledge, of course, not simply to memorize things, but knowledge
based on observation, on the sensations of things; interest about life.
That is the knowledge. Books are a part of it, but not only books. Books
are limited. Real knowledge comes from life. So when we explain for
ourselves the mysteries of life, and gain knowledge, of course, from
books, we stimulate the imagination and we go toward creation and new
ideas... The true grand designers know it all well; they know the great
classical ballets, they know … you know what I mean. There is such
stimulation, such a high level of creativity that to be situated in the
ignorance of all that, you are frankly very poor. (AL, 2007)
While the previous participants described creativity in a rather objective
way, the following participant comments reflect the inextricable connection
between gathering knowledge and creativity. "I am inspired by everything. I grew
up in a creative environment. I have my inspiration book and I walk away from
everything with an inspiration” (GL, 2007).
I think it is just my attitude. That is usually the key. My personality really
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just, I guess it’s the way that I see things. A lot of times I don’t talk a lot,
but my mind is constantly thinking all the time. I like to listen to a lot of
people and think about their lives. I think that is key for me. People’s lives
and how people live. (MT, 2007)
The following designer described her very personal process of discovering
the mysteries of life [italics added].
It takes time. When I was a student, I had no creativity at all. No, no, no,
no. I was the best at the cut [pattern drafting, draping, and garment
assembly]; I was very good. I took one day to finish my work, and they
gave three days to everybody and I would help the other students. But to
draw, in terms of creativity... I was very good at taking a sketch and
making it into a muslin toile. But to find an idea… that is why I didn’t think
I was never going to do fashion, because it was impossible for me to
sketch something that was a little bit, uhm, interesting. And I think to find
this creativity you have to really suffer or something like that. Because I
remember just before I really launched upon my business, I was suffering
so much about many things and I was questioning myself a lot. And I
didn’t do it just like that, I waited about 6 months to note things and said,
ok… So creativity also goes with a suffering moment. It doesn’t have to
make you suffer all your life, but something has to break inside to take out
the creativity. (AVH, 2007)
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Creativity in Fashion Design
The Importance of Creativity in Fashion Design
When discussing the importance of creativity in fashion design, all
participants indicated that creativity is important to fashion design. “It is the
mantra of our industry. It is the beginning and the end of the conversation. We
all say we want new thoughts, we want creativity, we believe that we support
creativity. It is the word on everybody’s lips” (TP, 2007). Creativity is especially
important if a designer’s image or brand has been developed with a focus on
creative design.
For us, the clients and the press and everybody always looks for
something very creative. It is hard, because sometimes you want to be
simple, and at the same time if it is simple, they don’t even look at that.
Like Dries Van Noten, like Alia, [the collection] has to keep the hand but at
the same time has to be creative. It is very important. It is 70% of all of
the world of fashion. It is very important. (AVH, 2007)
Categorizing Creativity
As the interviews probed into the subject of fashion design and creativity,
responses tended to categorize creativity in fashion design, giving rich
descriptions to define the categories. Some respondents spoke about the
distinction between true creative designers and other designers. Two male
respondents with 35+ years of experience in the French fashion industry made a
point of saying that true creative fashion designers are very rare. “Well, it is really
changing the history of costume. To do things which have never been done, or
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anyway to interpret them in a way which was never done, as of course everything
is taken from the past” (DG, 2007). “The creator creates history, he doesn’t follow
history. It is not a soldier, it is not someone who follows, it is someone who brings
an image…the true creators…are very rare by definition in the entire world” (AL,
2007).
Although the preceding comments relate to general concepts regarding
creative designers, more specific parameters were defined in terms of concept,
fabric, and technique. “I think [creativity is] always wanting to change and not
being very interested in what is happening now, always thinking about what is
coming next.…always being interested in this new thing” (SR, 2007).
What made me become a creator compared to somebody else?
Let’s talk about a very easy brand name… [such as] Gap. We would never
call that a creative company. But we will say Prada is creative, but not
Tommy Hilfiger. So what has changed the perception? I think it is in
terms of the cut and the fabric and the concept of the line. (AVH, 2007)
[Creativity is] very important. That is the key. You could be, you
know, your pattern could be so great, but if you don’t have that idea, if you
don’t have it, then it is not going to come. It is the whole package. You
have the idea; that is 60% of it. And then the technical side of it is what it
makes it happen. (MT, 2007)
Creative Barrier or Catalyst?
Furthering the exploration of concepts related to distinguishing types of
creativity in fashion design, discussion led to defining to the components of a
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fashion designers’ work that are considered creative. Nearly all responses linked
creativity to the fashion product development process. Analysis of the data
revealed that the characteristics of fashion product development centered on the
obligation of the fashion designer to satisfy the needs of a market. Responses
ranged from identifying a dichotomy between creativity and marketing to
expressing confidently that a fashion designer’s success depends on his or her
ability to understand the marketing complex.
Creativity and Marketability
Creativity and marketability were described as conflicting paradigms by
French respondents, "It is by virtue of the laws of imitation that we obey fashion.
It is nearly by a protestation against these laws of imitation that fashion tries to be
creative” (AL, 2007). Creative design was described by a French trend
forecaster as the antithesis of marketing-based product development that
focuses on defining the customer’s needs, as stated,
They do focus groups, questionnaires to interview people, etc. And that is
all stuff that taints the creative process. We are very turned off by that. I
think that fashion designers who are very creative, especially high-end
fashion designers, are turned off for the same reasons. Everybody feels
like it’s a publicity machine; something evil. (PF, 2007)
This French designer described the importance of a designer’s ability to
understand the customer and of the subtle exchange that inherently takes place
when a customer selects a product:
Why is he successful? Because he is subconsciously, at the base, he is
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in the mind of each client that he addresses. There is a transmission: why
does a client buy? Because she recognizes, subconsciously, when
looking at a designer’s work, a harmony that she feels. (AL, 2007)
The harmony that the customer feels doesn’t happen per chance. This
French designer went on to describe the macro-environment and the way in
which the rules of a target market evolve.
The world is rigid, especially the capitalist world we live in. We receive so
much media and information and images that form our taste, and it is from
there that certain targets are launched in rapport with each market
segment. Together with our knowledge of the real process [and the]
receptivity of images of this or that subject when we are a good designer,
we try to create a collection with the goal of fitting within the rules of the
target. (AL, 2007)
Creativity as a Competitive Advantage
Building on a similar world view, the following respondents described a
global marketing system which makes producing a creative product nearly the
only way for a designer to develop a competitive edge.
Today [because of globalization] price is no longer an issue and in
a sense the world is one country as the frontiers and barriers fade.
[Globalization] means that we can produce everywhere so that price is no
longer a divisive issue. The new technologies make this possible for
everyone. You can design in London or in NY, print in [New] Deli and
produce in Hong Kong. The differentiation is given by creativity [not price].
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The creativity which really builds the brand is more important than the
price and generally the product…Creativity becomes the necessary
element for a brand to become international. It [creativity] supersedes
marketing in importance. (DG, 2007)
The reality of all these big brands with all this marketing has also
[been] trying to cut out the young designers because they [big brands]
take all the space in the magazines as advertisers and all the space in the
[editorial] pages because the editors use them to get them to advertise
more. They take all the air from the rising designers. So the only way to
get a brand to rise is to sell. And to sell the only way [to sell] is to keep the
creativity, so it is related. (AVH, 2007)
Constraints to Creativity in Fashion Design
Consumer taste.
The fashion design process inherently includes developing a product for a
target market which includes meeting the needs and desires of that market. The
evolution of the creative process is therefore influenced by factors relating to the
end consumer. Respondents addressed attention to consumer needs in terms of
taste and level of receptivity to innovation.
When examining the definition of taste, one notes that the word has many
connotations. For the purpose of this study, taste is considered in terms of the
following concepts.
Some consider taste as a mere sensibility, and others as a simple
exercise of judgment; but a union of both is requisite to the existence of
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anything which deserves the name. An original sense of the beautiful is
just as necessary to aesthetic judgments, as a sense of right and wrong to
the formation of any just conclusions or moral subjects. But this ‘sense of
the beautiful’ is not an arbitrary principle. It is under the guidance of
reason; it grows in delicacy and correctness with the progress of the
individual and of society at large; it has its laws, which are seated in the
nature of man; and it is in the development of these laws that we find the
true ‘standard of taste.’(taste, 2008)
Understanding and pleasing the consumer’s taste was addressed by
French designer AVH (2007) as well.
What is sad is that creativity sometimes also has to go with taste; the taste
of the general population and this is the most difficult of things. Paco
Rabanne is a very creative person, but some people don’t like his work;
they hate it. In a way Dolce & Gabana has creativity, but the woman they
drive is a bimbo woman. But it is also creativity. (AVH, 2007)
Consumer taste in terms of the above comments can be described as
refined or popular. A Paco Rabanne customer would have a refined taste,
understanding and appreciating the beauty of subtle, unusual design
characteristics, having learned to appreciate the research and development
behind a creative product. A customer with a popular taste level draws on the
influences in popular Western culture, especially those related to sexuality and
beauty. This customer’s impression is more impulsive and less reflective than
the customer with a cultivated taste, and can be seen in the type of customer
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attracted to the Dolce & Gabana line described above.
Being attentive to the taste level can enhance a designer’s success if it
enables him or her to better define a niche market, however some creative work
is misunderstood. Creating a product that is creative yet widely accepted offers a
particular challenge due to the relative nature of consumer taste and the
sometimes limited capacity of consumers to developed refined taste that allows
them to appreciate and value the creative process.
I think they [customers] are so overwhelmed by an overload of
merchandise and logoed merchandise and the fact that now luxury is so
democratized that they feel they need to find more special pieces and
more unique pieces so they use this to set themselves apart. But that
doesn’t necessarily always equal the more creative product. It just means
the more expensive…. So these people who want to acquire luxury are
not necessarily the same people who have the taste to be able to identify
creativity and value the creative process as much.
I think the uniqueness [and creativity] is in the handmade; in the
importance of folklore or history or tradition and craft. I think that sort of
creativity is even more valued by people who have a more refined taste.
Which I think is more about artisan and tradition and couture. And even if
it’s not couture, just using couture processes. (PF, 2007)
Receptivity to innovation.
American designers GL (2007) and TP (2007) each made a point to
distinguish a fashion designer’s creativity from an artist’s creativity. “Fashion
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can’t exist without creativity, but creativity of a different kind; not art. Creativity is
thinking differently. There is creativity in consumerism” (GL, 2007). "In our
industry, because this is a profession and it is not a fine art, because we are in
the business to sell clothes, creativity is the thing that we talk about, but we don’t
want too much creativity” (TP, 2007).
American designers also made it a point to qualify the type and amount of
creativity in fashion products:
We don’t want things that are too unusual; we want things that are
sort of evolving from what came before, but things that are too radical are
too extreme for most people to accept. Creative product can be unusual,
but is not always unusual; not necessarily very different. It is something
that is somewhat different. It can be very different, but it doesn’t
necessarily have to be. (TP, 2007)
People think that to be different you have to be disturbing. Either
that or they don’t know better. It’s really black or white to them. Either it is
really normal or really 'over there' which is considered as creative. But
really creativity is not 180 degrees away from the norm. I think the most
important thing is that creativity doesn’t have to be weird. (WM, 2007)
A Typology of Creativity
Influences
Price-Point and Creativity
When asked if a product’s price influences creativity, responses confirmed
that creativity is required in fashion design regardless of the price-point, or target
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selling price of the product “If you have a budget of a million dollars or a hundred
dollars, you start at the same place, and the work after that relates to your price
point” (CD, 2007). “In the old days it [price] used to be [a determinant of
creativity], but Target has disproved that. They do some amazing creative
[products in] everything” (WM, 2007). The nature of the creative activity that
follows the initial inspiration differs, however, according to the intended final
purchase price.
And then obviously, [we design] to the market’s purchasing power. If, for
example, we do Haute Couture, that costs a fortune. Of course it could
make people dream a lot more than the [lower priced] target market. But it
is inaccessible from a simple financial point of view. (AL, 2007)
Creativity as Problem Solving
Lamb & Kallal (1992) defined problem identification as the first step in
their apparel design framework, as did Labat and Sokolowski (1999) when
defining three stages of the design process. Building on this concept, we see
that the type of creativity applied in fashion design depends on the problem to be
solved. “We are under the misconception that the luxury level market exercises
more creativity, but I think in some cases it is a greater creative challenge to work
within a price point” (TP, 2007). Several responses echoed the sentiment in this
quote, revealing that design creativity can be separated into two categories:
exploratory/experimental creativity and process/logical creativity. Exploratory
creativity requires highly developed technique, materials and craft.
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Process/logical creativity exacts a heightened awareness of operations,
management, methods and technology.
Leadership Creativity or Adaptive Creativity
At the highest price point, the problem to solve relates to discovering the
path to a fashion forward, innovative, unique, superbly crafted garment made
from the finest materials. “I think it [creativity] is at a point where it has never
been before where because of the prices going so high we have the freedom and
ability to do what we have never done before” (PF, 2007). This description
correlates to the concept of experimental creativity. Combining experimental
creativity characterized by focusing on highly developed technique, materials and
craft with the concept of creating a product that is fashion-forward and innovative
brings us to a new term: Leadership Creativity. Leadership Creativity often
caters to the customer with refined taste as described in a previous section.
Leadership Creativity is often found at the higher price-point because it
requires investment in research and development. “Creation is always expensive
by definition” (DG, 2007).
I think that a lot of the time especially in the luxury industry, creativity
allows more expensive processes to be done and you know more
amazing techniques and more complicated ways and more complicated
patternmaking and all that kind of stuff. So I think that makes the more
creatively made things more expensive, so I think that people are ready to
invest more to have more special pieces. (PF, 2007)
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As the price point lowers the problem to solve relates to translating
sophisticated design ideas into products that can be manufactured in large
quantities and have the allure of high-priced design but are adapted in such a
way to make them attractive to the budget customer, from both the aesthetic and
economic standpoints.
Designing for the lower price category draws on skills
related to the spirit of the process/logical creativity described in the previous
section. “I would say that probably there is a lot more pressure and those people
are cranking out a lot more clothes than I do [at the designer price-point]” (TP,
2007). Combining the concept of process creativity which involves a heightened
awareness of operations, management, methods and technology with the
challenge of creating a product with well-established parameters or limitations
gives us the term Adaptive Creativity.
When we do a collection that is targeted to a specific market, we are
naturally obliged to take into account the time needed to manufacture the
piece, the cost of the fabric, to all these elements that make the product
become a product that corresponds to the buying power of the market for
which we are designing. (AL, 2007)
Creativity Type Not Bound to the Product’s Price
Designer SR, who focused on Leadership Creativity, produced garments
at designer and bridge price-points, demonstrating that within a limited range,
price-point is not a determinant to the application of Leadership Creativity in all
cases.
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When I worked for Kenzo, we would create trends, not follow them. So for
me working at Kenzo, price point did have a certain importance, and I
think that is why, as time went on, I was more successful because I knew
that I had certain things that are on the top of the triangle [fewer, more
expensive pieces] that can be anything that I wanted it to be. I didn’t have
to worry about it at all. It just had to be absolutely beautiful. And you didn’t
worry about the price. But then I knew there were certain techniques that
looked quite good, were very useful, they were very reasonable
techniques, price-wise, and I knew how to use them when appropriate. I
knew there were other techniques that were expensive, so you had to
have a really good idea of when to use them. With experience that meant
that you could balance the collection in a way that there was a fair chance
if you had some expensive pieces and some less expensive ones. (SR,
2007)
The following designer sells at the luxury level price-point. She practiced
Leadership Creativity when developing the unique fabrics she created from fiber
manipulation. In contrast, she used the Internet as a source to research the
competition in relation to garment silhouette and style, for which her
developmental approach reflected Adaptive Creativity.
Yes, it [the Internet] helps me understand what everybody else is
expecting; what they are doing now. Market research…sometimes I go to
the tabloids, you know the Vogues in the different countries and when I
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see a designer I find interesting, I will then go to that designer’s website.
(SK, 2007)
Another designer recognized the difference between Leadership and Adaptive
Creativity and chose Leadership Creativity when defining a career path in order
to avoid having to adapt design ideas to the constraints of a market.
I really don’t look at price point. I am more looking at creativity.
Creativity more than price point. That is why I started my own line. I knew
that if I was working for someone else, they would always be like, yeah,
that is great but it is going to cost a lot to produce that style or finish, you
know. I am more looking at quality and the design of it; price is the last
thing. (MT, 2007)
One designer likened the price/creativity question to the process of developing
fine art: “I know it [price] should [be a consideration] but [it’s] probably not
[something I think about]. It is more like I’m painting. I don’t think a painter thinks
how much could I sell this painting for” (SK, 2007)?
Creativity Type Related to Customer’s Taste Level
Another concept that surfaced when discussing creativity and price-point
relates to receptivity for and understanding of the unusual, taste level (refined or
popular), quantity produced, and price. Leadership Creativity is rare because
“true artists are not that many in any field” (DG, 2007) and because “People who
understand advanced creation are not that numerous; if everyone understands a
product that means it is not new. Of course it seems a little pretentious to say
that, but it is true in art, and it is true in every industry” (DG, 2007).
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The consumer’s lack of refined taste creates a resistance to advanced
creativity and can relate to the geographic and social/cultural environment, as
described by SK (2007):
A lot of what I have done is such outrageous imagery, that it can’t really be
worn on the street. It is more like theater or costume, you know. Like, I know,
let’s just call them hippies, people that wear strange things and they are really
wild and really costume-y. I’m trying to move away from that [outrageous
imagery] because of the urban environment and marketability and what people
would really wear. People won’t wear that [extremely creative product] in St.
Louis, Missouri. They will come up to the piece, and they will love it, but they get
to that point where they say, “Where would I wear this?” (SK, 2007)
Designers also described a psychological link for the consumer between a higher
price-point and receptivity to Leadership Creativity. “I think the main difference
between upper price and lower price clothing is that consumers can usually
spend more money for clothing that is more original and more unique” (TP,
2007). “So I think that makes the more creatively made things more expensive,
so I think that people are ready to invest more to have more special pieces” (PF,
2007).
Another designer described the system in which Adaptive Creativity
developed and flourishes at the mass market level: “We live in an industry of
parasites; they go into stores and copy clothes. They don’t think about volumes
and shapes and so on. They are just copying clothes and manufacturing them,
hopefully at a lower price point” (WM, 2007). Similarly, SR (2007) stated:
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“Fashion, as I understand it, - I don’t know what percentage, but a HUGE part of
the industry is based on copying, and that doesn’t interest me at all.” CD (2007)
described two types of creativity in relation to price point as well
…it depends on the level of the industry you are working in…
further down the line, as you start working for some of those other
companies, like Forever 21, who is just knocking things off, it [Leadership
Creativity] is not necessarily as important. These people are creating a
look based on someone else’s look. For the followers, or the Forever
21’s, it is more how to translate what the other people are doing into your
price point. There is some creativity in that, too. (CD, 2007)
Interdependence of Creativity Types
These two types of creativity feed off of each other. Figure 4.1 shows the
correlation between Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity. The
predominance of Adaptive Creativity can be seen as a catalyst to Leadership
Creativity, and Adaptive Creativity finds its direction from Leadership Creativity.
I think a lot of it comes in the way everybody is shopping and
rubbing off items. It looks like… you know the mess about fashion if the
merchandiser becomes a designer just by shopping and picking 10
garments and redoing them in a different color. And if that is what fashion
design is today, you know these higher end designers are just so
disgusted by that they just want to get back to authenticity. I think that is
what is pushing them to do it. (PF, 2007)
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Figure 4. 1 The Correlation between Leadership and Adaptive Creativity
Crea
Adaptive Creativity is challenging
allenging in many ways because without taking a
leadership position, the adaptive designer still has the task of making something
different, new and desirable.
If it doesn’t evolve nobody is going to buy anything new; so
creativity is [very] connected to tthe
he word new, or fresh. You know, just the
next step. You don’t have to go all the way to the top of the ladder, just
move it along. The whole idea of fashion is giving somebody a reason to
buy something new. So if you don’t have creativity then you don’t move it
to the next level. (WM, 2007)
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In reality a stylist, designer, is not really a creator. It is a man of
synthesis. That means that it is someone who studies the images that the
true creators, who are very rare by definition in the entire world, have
created, and he will work on these images to use them to serve the market
he is addressing. (AL, 2007)
Although globalization has given designers access to many more low-cost
production options providing a wider selection of details available at lower cost,
the process of developing the budget product is still Adaptive due to the structure
of the market in regard to fashion leaders:
Now, even at a lower level all kinds of things can be made by hand,
in India or China, so you are very, very free. But having said that, I guess
that someone working for H & M does have certain parameters. I mean
they are following the style; they are not creating the style. (SR, 2007)
Technology and Creativity
A Typology of Technology in the Fashion Industry
As the conversation approached the subject of technology, asking the
question, “How does technology impact fashion designers today?” Responses
ranged from confident statements that technology inhibits creativity to guarded
statements qualifying ways technology helps creativity. One respondent
described how designers are inherently influenced by technology because
designers synthesize the world around them and technology is part of today’s
environment.
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Each period has had its revolution. Technology is the real
revolution
on of our day. It has changed the morals and the relationships
among people…We are the receivers
receivers-emitters
emitters of our time period, and we
cannot ignore technology. (AL, 2007)
After discussing the respondent’s initial response to the question, the
researcher defined
fined a typology for technology in fashion design, explaining the
two categories defined during the literature review: Process Technology and
Information Technology
Technology. Process Technology relates to the hardware and
software that enable the product to be pro
produced. Information Technology relates
hardware and software that facilitates communication of ideas, images and
information. As Figure 4.2 indicates, the Internet is the area where these two
types of technology intersect.
Figure 4. 2 The intersection of Process Technology and Information
Technology is the Internet
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Process Technology is hardware and/or software that facilitate the actual
physical development of the product. This category can be further sub-divided
into computer aided design, computer aided patternmaking, computer aided
manufacturing and 3-D Body scanning/mass customization. Computer aided
design encompasses programs that facilitate creative sketching, presentation
boards, technical design, and textile design such as Adobe Photoshop and
Illustrator, Point-Carree, In-Design, and U4IA. Computer Aided Patternmaking
includes digitizing existing patterns for grading and pre-production preparation,
creating patterns from existing slopers, digitizing draped muslins for completion
on the computer, customizing patterns for made-to-measure clients, and the
newest development, 3-D virtual assembly of the pattern. 3-D virtual
environments enable evaluating the pattern on a virtual model complete with
animation to see the virtual model walk, allowing changing of color, pattern,
proportion and details of the design before realizing it in actual fabric. Computer
aided manufacturing includes cutting a large quantity of garments in a paperless
environment, using automated spreading and cutting, and for some segments of
the industry going all the way to automated assembly. Computer-aided
manufacturing also includes supply-chain technology such as software for
Product Data Management and Product Lifecycle Management, both in a local
network and Internet-based.
Information Technology refers to the many methods that one can
communicate ideas, words, and images over the World Wide Web. For the
purpose of this paper, it includes all of the previously-mentioned Internet-based
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information dissemination methods: e-zines, podcasts, myspace.com,
youtube.com, web-based trend forecasting agencies; both subscription-based
such as wgsn.com, and those with free access, blogs; both by industry
professionals and by consumers, competitor’s websites and a myriad of options
with public access such as style.com, elle.com, and infomat.com.
Process Technology and Creativity
Data analysis demonstrated extreme differences in attitudes toward
Process Technology. TP, a New York designer who makes all of his luxury-level
eveningwear patterns embraced Process Technology and explained that
Computers are a facilitator… the computer makes it possible to do
it faster and keep it more organized and so on. …that process...allows you
to be more creative. I make [sample patterns for] completely original
designer styles on the computer. The company that makes my
patternmaking software says that I am completely unique in this country in
that respect. (TP, 2007)
In a similar vein, French designer AL demonstrated enthusiasm for Process
Technology.
The creators are the same, the designers are the same. Thanks to
the Internet and technology, including the 3-D simulation, [they have] the
possibility of creating things that were nearly impossible to create before.
Technology itself, the technical side, can provide visualization much, much
more quickly than before. For example, if we want a color palette, well,
we push a button with one finger, and we only have to choose the finger,
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and we have a choice …. And the painters from 100 years ago would put
a whole month into discovering the color he needed and wanted for a
particular painting. (AL, 2007)
While the above respondent demonstrated enthusiasm for 3-D virtual simulation,
TP, a New York designer who has worked extensively with computer
patternmaking and body scan technology, made the following comment:
You know, that is a lot of smoke and mirrors. I don’t know if it
actually means anything to anybody. When I see a flat pattern on the
screen, I make the garment in my own head anyway. So that kind of
cheap trickery doesn’t really mean a whole lot to me. I know that people
do them [3-D body imaging], and that is part of the promotional aspect of
them and that is what gets the attention at the trade shows, but does it
really mean something to a patternmaker? I don’t think so. …there is that
whole thing about predicting the drapability and the softness of the fabric,
and that’s not there yet, either. (TP, 2007)
In relation to the improved quality of work, the following respondent
emphasized that the computer is only a tool, and that producing high quality work
depends on the person using the computer. She made the point that if one uses
the technology correctly it can enable producing higher quantities of quality work.
Common sense would say that technology would make the quality
of your work better. However, I really don’t agree, because the quality of
the work is only as good as the person who is putting it into the computer.
As far as how much you can do, I guess that once you got it right, that
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totally affects it. I mean, you can really do more if indeed you are doing it
correctly. (WM, 2007)
Process Technology was noted to be particularly important in relation to
textile development. “I think the way that it most affects designers is through
textiles. Technology in textiles has created a major change. Making a fiber
waterproof, new ways of breathing, I think that inspires designers a lot” (PF,
2007).
There is another way of technology impacting designer’s work as
well with new types of cloth and yarn. When I was buying yarns for Kenzo
it was always interesting to see the new types of yarns. The last time
when I was buying yarns, I saw a new yarn that was a tube with another
tube inside; a new technology that didn’t exist before. (SR, 2007)
During the period when we were really interested in prints, it
[Process Technology] really helped, because prints are so much easier to
make with technology. And of course as far as textile design goes it
opens up all these amazing possibilities like the fibers they are developing
in Japan, and the way they have also inspired a revival of synthetics; that
all comes from technology. (PF, 2007)
In stark contrast to this receptive approach to Process Technology, AV, a
Parisian designer, stated
We don’t touch the computer in any way. We are going to have
some computers for grading [sizes], but that is all. We have mannequins
and we do everything on the mannequin. Nobody works in flat pattern at
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all. For me, I will lose the soul of the brand if I work on the flat pattern. So
the technology, I don’t really care about. It’s very dry, ugh, and when you
work on the dress form it is very rich. Research is not very good for flat
pattern technology. (AVH, 2007)
A French trend forecaster commented on the limitations of Process Technology
in relation to apparel product development.
But I think that fashion is still very old fashioned when it comes to
technology. It’s still – the basic thing of making a garment - You have to
have a pattern you still have to have - It’s still not there yet. It’s not like you
can rapid prototype a garment – it’s not there yet. (PF, 2007)
Information Technology and the Fashion Industry
Invariably, the initial response to the question, “How does technology
influence fashion designers today?” gravitated around Process Technology.
Although their perception of Process Technology was fascinating, respondents
were asked to direct their thoughts and comments to Information Technology, an
area of inquiry that has received less attention in the literature.
Information Technology as an Administrative Tool
E-Mail: a necessary evil?
When asked how Information Technology has changed the quantity or
quality of the designer’s work, respondents agreed unanimously that the playing
field has changed. “I am a complete technophile…Technology has allowed my
company to grow at a faster and more efficient rate than [would have been]
imaginable without the technology” (GF, 2007).
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Responses indicated that the nature of the use of Information Technology
was quite varied; however there was general agreement that email facilitates
communication. “We use it for practical things, like travel and emails and things
like that, like every other office. I think they [high-end designers] use it on a daily
basis, to book trips and buy things” (PF, 2007). This American trend forecaster
uses the Internet to prepare for her travels in a qualitative way, not just for
booking trips.
I go to WGSN, and look around. They have great information on
cities, and whenever I am about to travel I go on there and check out what
is happening in that city. I have gone through other times and checked out
street scenes in cities I haven’t visited in a couple of years. So I definitely
use it. (CD, 2007)
The same American trend forecaster responded that she found that emails
have made life more complicated. “The people I know are just stuck at their
desks, buried in emails. You know, people complain about the problem with
emails, and I don’t really think it is a good thing, overall” (CD, 2007). In a similar
manner, an American designer expressed reticence in relation to widespread
communication technology. “Info technology is good, because it gives you
access, but you don’t want too much access; you know with email and cell
phones and things like that. Sometimes you don’t want to be too easy to get a
hold of. It can be bad” (MT, 2007).
TP, an American designer who embraced Process Technology
enthusiastically, expressed disdain for the Internet. “The Internet is a great
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source of totally useless information” (TP, 2007). The French designer who
expressed resistance to Process Technology also avoided Information
Technology.
I don’t even read my email. I don’t check it… I don’t have enough
time. I have an office, but I’m never in the office; I’m always out with
everybody outside the office. I could be more on the computer but I would
be cut off from the personal contact with everybody – from the pulse.
(AVH, 2007)
Adding a communication channel.
Although she rejected the Internet and the use of personal email, French
designer AVH did, however, recognize the importance of Information Technology
to her business “the only place I really feel a difference is with the press.
Everything is communicated so well, and everybody has the information. That is
the real part” (AVH, 2007). Email, in the eyes of this designer, has added another
level of complexity to the communication process. “So in fact, yes, we doubled
the work. Because before we just sent a fax; now we send a fax and telephone
and email” (AVH, 2007).
The idea that the Internet has added an extra layer of complexity to
creative work was echoed by this trend forecaster, who gave the following
response when asked to comment on the manner in which the Internet has
affected the process of trend forecasting.
I think that the trends themselves definitely were affected. We talk
about it in a very different way [now]. But the actual process of trend
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forecasting has always remained the same. It’s just that the information
we gather also draws upon the Internet as an extra source. It didn’t
replace a source; it’s just an added source. (PF, 2007)
The availability of information on the Internet has influenced a designer’s
work, as stated by this American designer.
I don’t know how the work of a fashion designer in general has
changed, but there is something to be said about the way that everyone
has immediate access to things that previously were very hard to know,
such as photos of designer collections. (GL, 2007)
Contribution to fast fashion.
Such open access to previously private information posed a problem in
the eyes of French industry executive DG, in terms of copyright protection and
piracy, which has become a real problem in the luxury industry (Kissi, 2007).
Mobilization of the new technology has changed the rules of the
game… [information] technologies are really more aimed to the [popular]
media rather than to the industry. Today the fact that we put innovation on
the Internet has killed the innovation. If [information] technology allows
anyone on the planet to take for free what has not been manufactured yet,
of course you kill the image of the designer and you kill the brand. (DG,
2007)
This American designer’s perspective confirms the French industry executives’
statement, describing the process from a consumer standpoint.
I think that it all contributes to the world of fast fashion no matter
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what it is. A girl can go on style.com and then go into Forever 21, and
recognize that a dress is a knockoff from Marc Jacobs, when Marc Jacobs
could be the farthest thing from her deal. It [the Internet] just moves the
fast fashion. [The important component here] is not the girl that buys at
Forever 21; it is Forever 21 that uses style.com. (WM, 2007)
Limitations of Information Technology in Relation to Fashion Design
Fashion, creativity and the human touch.
This idea of Information Technology “killing innovation” was echoed in the
following comment by AL (2007): “The human element has got to stay. If not,
the danger is to go toward unification, toward interchangeability and
normalization of everything, and that is the antithesis of creativity” (AL, 2007).
“We still, and I think the creative industry is the same. We still want the one-toone physical thing. I think it’s the tactility aspect. People still want to be face-toface” (PF, 2007). “I have the blackberry and use all kinds of technology, but not
for design” (GL, 2007).
In a response related to the importance of palpable connections when
discussing ways to source fabric over the Internet, WM commented,
Well you know, my problem is there is no touchy-feely. So you can
take a picture, print the swatch off the Internet when you order it, but when
you put it [the actual fabric] up against your skin and it feels gross, there is
no translation at all. Not to say anything about flatness, and the color
differences, and well, it is very different I think. (WM, 2007)
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The Internet as a secondary resource.
PF (2007) described how his boss, a major European trend forecaster,
uses the Internet as a secondary data source.
Yeah, I mean [my boss] Googles and stuff – it’s pretty basic
research; it’s more like verifying the first intuition. It is just verifying.
Everything is intuitive and emotional in its first phase, so maybe you’re
doing research online in the secondary phase, but not the primary phase
We talked about [my boss] and for example if she’s interested in
something like covering up, she typed in covering up and looked through
hundreds of links just to see what covering up means online, or whatever
the concept is. (PF, 2007)
This American trend forecaster also views the Internet as a secondary source, as
a way to validate an idea.
I think they do for more to verify what they’re already thinking; to be
sure they are on the right path. It’s not really where they are getting their
information from… I go to some of the trend watching sites… It’s like I
think I know what is going on, but I just want to see pictures. (CD, 2007)
Information Technology, Creativity and Travel
In regard to the nature of their work, another common thread the data
revealed was that despite all the information available on the Internet, designers
maintained the need to travel. “I still need to travel, though. There is something
to be said about the emotional attachment to an item when you see it and feel it
and smell it” (GL, 2007). “Only visualizing [is possible] through technology; you
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cannot experience through technology” (WM, 2007). “When I’m in Japan, I’m just
shopping and going all the time, opening the garments and looking” (SK, 2007).
“It [travel] is important because you need to see. You need to be as open as the
world is open. By the Internet I don’t travel so much” (AVH, 2007). “Because you
need to be there to experience it yourself, and to notice that little jeweled
container on the side that may just inspire an entire collection” (CD, 2007).
I don’t think they are getting inspiration for researching from [the
Internet]. Creators are too pure for that. They are more interested in the
actual culture. They want to travel there because of course they
understand the best way to know it is to go there themselves. (PF, 2007)
For example I love to travel. I recently went to Argentina and the
atmosphere is so wonderful – Paris meets South America. There is
resurgence in that country that gives a different perspective. You want to
see things that are touched by the hand. (GL, 2007)
When you go to Kyoto in the fall, there is that gray leaden sky and
then there are scarlet momiji leaves; those tiny little Japanese maple- I
saw this very elegant, very simple coat in my mind in the gray felt with just
a tiny smattering of the red leaves coming around here and maybe one on
a cuff, and maybe just a black cuff with a little accent of crimson here and
there to signify all of that but in a very subtle way. (SK, 2007)
Two comments related the need to physically travel to diverse destinations to the
idea that travel helps clear the mind.
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But they also want to go there for their own nourishment, I think. A
lot of my high-end fashion designer friends are still inspired by South
American Andes wool coats and they are still going to Argentina for
amazing culture, and they are inspired by the Himalayan mountains. (PF,
2007)
It is good to cut [away from your environment] as well. For example,
I was in London yesterday, and it was good to cut from my world here. I
did all the big department stores, which I can do in Paris, but “ce n’est pas
le meme regard” “you don’t see it with the same eyes” (AVH, 2007).
The Internet as an Essential Component to the Brand Image
A French trend forecaster confirmed that as a company, they don’t travel
and exhibit at trade shows as much as they used to, making their presence on
the Internet more important for that reason.
Yeah, and if they want to find you, they will just use the Internet.
Especially now that we don’t go to so many [trade] fairs. Everyone would
go to the fair and would see you at the fair with a big installation, and
everyone would know you. But now we’re not present at all of the trade
fairs, so…business-wise we just couldn’t handle the idea of missing out on
the extra business. What is the business you’re losing – the people who
are on the Internet – how do they contact you, and how do they find you?
They were always saying that they couldn’t find us. [so we developed a
website]. (PF, 2007)
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Having a presence on the Internet was also cited as essential to brand
development. “Designers use the Internet to disseminate information, for
example look at Marc Jacobs. The Internet provides validation for the brand”
(GL, 2007). Customer demand is driving these designers to developing an online
presence.
So Actually I think technology the Internet technology is really
affecting marketing for a whole lot of artists. And I’m just now getting to
market stuff on my own site. I have had people ask me, “Where is the link
for the scarves you have for sale?” (SK, 2007)
The following American respondent expressed an ideological reluctance to
developing her brand website; however she developed one because she
understands how important it is to her brand image.
I have more people calling because they see stuff online than ever. It is
an informational website; it does not sell. We’re working on [developing]
online sales because of that [consumer interest]. I really don’t like to buy
stuff online. I’m really old fashioned, and I don’t trust things online. You
know, people can lie [online], and you [get] things that are not the same as
what you saw on the Internet. But I have to follow [the Internet wave]; if I
want to survive and grow I have to accept the online part” (MT, 2007).
Internet Technology and Creativity
Aiding the Creative Process
Relating the concept of Internet technology to creativity, some designers
found it helped their creative process. “It allows the company more sources of
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inspiration… Research, to inform me about things. If I want to do a collection
about Ikat textiles, or tribes in Peru, etc. I can look that up easily” (GL, 2007).
The Internet is a good resource for us; if I happen to want a picture
of a Russian czar’s crown, I can get that on the Internet in an instant. That
is a great resource. I don’t have to go to the library and flip through files
and books. In a sense that is a real timesaver. (TP, 2007)
Both French and American designers who lived in remote areas were
receptive to Internet technology.
Well I’m a real Internet junkie. I love using my computer, being
able to see what other people are creating, being able to go visit places
without going there. That really helps me when I’m here in Missouri. Then
there are just the materials themselves. There are all kinds of new things
always going on with dye works. Of course, I’m using chemical dyes, and
there are all sorts of new mediums and new things to use with that. I keep
up with that on the Internet, through the companies developing new
things. (SK, 2007)
[The Internet] helps as the role of a library with images. It helps
now as I live out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains [in France],
and I look at it to get visual documents, and I can scan my books instead
of using color photocopies. So I guess it has helped to sort of delocalize
and work from home. (SR, 2007)
Guarded Use of Internet Technology
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Given the undeniable presence of the Internet, responses clarified its role
in the development of creative ideas.
If today we have the Internet, the creator must know how to use the
Internet. He cannot, of course, become a slave to the Internet, but [using
the Internet is necessary] in order to express his passion and go toward
the largest opening of his spirit possible in order for him to get the most
information and to express his art as best possible. (AL, 2007)
I think it is good and bad for designers. It makes it really easy
when you are in a pinch and you can just go online and look at all the
shows and at some pictures of some hot spots and places you were not
able to get to. But I also think it is taking away from exactly the things that
we need, which is to get out there and immerse yourself in what it is,
whether it is a hot night club, or a spa, or whatever it is… I think that,
hmm, it is overall a good thing; we just have to make sure it doesn’t
become our world. (CD, 2007)
A French trend forecaster described the importance of being aware of how
the consumer uses the Internet, and how it influences society in general, while at
the same time staying removed from the phenomenon enough to think
independently from its influences.
So of course we research online, and we are interested in the way
that the Internet creates new personalities for people, that there are virtual
cities where you can buy property, that people are voyeuristically filming
themselves and sharing information. So, on a social front we think about it
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and we talk about it. But we’re not professionals in it. We don’t do it
ourselves, and we don’t talk about it that much. We are kind of skimming
the surface; this is happening now, - everybody’s blogging, or whatever –
this is happening in society, but it’s not like we’re really online looking at
what people are doing and looking at these things. We just know these
things are going on. (PF, 2007)
The data revealed that some people put forth a conscious effort to qualify
the information, keeping its value in perspective. “It [technology] has positives
and negatives. I know what to take and not to take from it (GL, 2007). A French
trend forecaster commented that his company was not interested in the validity of
the information, however. The value in the information came from the link the
trend forecaster could make with another event, reinforcing the evolution of a
phenomenon.
I think if we find it conceptually interesting, that [then] we give it
value. So we are more interested in the idea behind it, whether or not it is
seen by 20 million people. Maybe there is somebody in Japan who all of a
sudden is wearing tartan socks, who is doing a blog about his tartan
socks, and maybe somewhere else we saw that tartan socks were
interesting, then we like the connection that this is happening and we’ll talk
about that. But it’s just one little guy doing tartan socks. It’s not really the
most influential thing. It’s more that we find it interesting. Our opinion of it
is the link. (PF, 2007)
Information Technology and Change in the Fashion Industry Culture
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The Internet as a Prevalent Force
The respondents as a whole agreed that the Internet is a prevalent force
in the world today, one of many components of our technologically-influenced
environment.
But it [the Internet] has just been so influential to touch everybody’s
lives. It’s just a given now. It’s such a stabilizer, it’s everywhere, so you
don’t question – you know that people are communicating, and by texting,
and their values are changing and their manners are changing and their
image of themselves is changing. But it’s just part of the big picture. I
don’t think it’s a sole Internet thing. (PF, 2007)
I think that in the near future the Internet will change our
appreciation and we will allow certain brands to have an international
clientele [that is] very interested in some brands that do not yet have the
notoriety. In a way today fashion goes quicker and brands have a cycle
which is shorter. At the same time [the Internet] is a way to communicate
in a network and to create a network [of customers] in a way that is less
expensive, costly and long than what we have now and in the past. (DG,
2007)
Ideological Change
Change in Relation to General Behavior
People’s thought process has changed in pace with technology;
“Technology has changed a lot because the mentality has changed with the
technology” (AVH, 2007). There was a general consensus that technology has
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been the impetus for change in many ways, in relation to working methods and
the type and nature of social interaction. “I think it’s [technology] making things
better because we’re becoming more organized” (CD, 2007).
Well, I think when there was no computer, people had to learn the
whole job and it was a physical job. I mean you didn’t really sit at your
desk the whole day, I mean you had to learn different aspects but you
physically had to be one person doing several things. But with the
technology everything is sitting in one chair, give or take. (WM, 2007)
I think this reflects the way that people think and live now. They’re
not attached just to one direct hit. They need to have variety and
interaction in some way, and they need to have a twist. Not for novelty,
really, just because they’ve seen and done everything. Overload. (PF,
2007)
Information Technology has opened people’s minds to new ways of thinking and
behaving. The information gained through the Internet contributes to
multicultural awareness. “Technology is the real revolution of our day. It has
changed the morals and the relationships among people. Thanks to technology
we have access very quickly than before to the cultures of the world, to different
civilizations. So we have a much more open spirit thanks to technology” (AL,
2007).
Change in Consumer Behavior
Due to Information Technology consumers have evolved in relation to their
fashion product expectations. Some have developed higher expectations and
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are more conscious of the nature of the fashion product, demonstrating a firm
position regarding the nature of the desired product, even to the point of
becoming personally involved in the product’s development.
Consumer expectations are raised because they are exposed to
more, but they are lowered because they are not demanding so much.
[The] Internet gives them a chance to experience fashion in a new way
allowing the consumer to get exposure with less of a commitment. (GL,
2007)
Technology has given a lot of people a lot more money so they can
buy a lot more things so we can make a lot more things…. And also H & M
or Gap or… it makes people dress like everyone else. I mean it’s
fantastic. (AVH, 2007)
What is happening now is that because of the Internet; we now
have world-wide communication, people can find me easily. So I get
emails from consumers all the time, constantly. Some are good, some are
bad, some positive, some negative, some want this and they want that.
They have suggestions, sometimes I like them sometimes I don’t like
them, whatever. It is just that I’m much more in communication…people
want to communicate with me. I have had so many people ask me if they
can come up to my studio and for me to make clothes for them. Custommade clothes for them. They want to be involved in the process; they want
to choose the fabrics. Not only do they want to have it custom fit for their
body, but they want to be involved in the color selection and the fabric
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selection and the proportions of it and make changes here. And it is a
thing that we have started doing. It is a whole new facet of my career.
And so I feel like the impersonalized nature of the Internet has created
personalization of people’s relationship to their own clothing. (TP, 2007)
Leadership Creativity and Resistance to Information Technology
The following quotes from a French trend forecaster and Haute Couture
fashion designer indicate, however, that it is quite possible that Information
Technology may not have permeated the process of applying Leadership
Creativity to designing luxury-level apparel.
It is an interesting question [How does technology influence
creativity?] because I never even thought about it before. And I didn’t
realize how anti-technology I thought creative people were until I said it.
But it’s true - when I see all my friends working, I mean they’re all between
30 and 45, and they just don’t – it’s only in the textiles where they
embrace it. Maybe in the technical side of making the garment, they
embrace it, but in the way that inspiration and creativity goes, they don’t
use technology (PF, 2007).
I feel like I’m completely ‘dépassé” [out of style; old-fashioned].
This is what I feel. I can’t enter into that system. I think Oh, I should look
on a website and see what is happening, but I don’t have enough time.
(AVH, 2007)
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Summary
Through an inductive process that began with questions related to
creativity in general, led to creativity in fashion design and then directed the topic
to Internet technology in relation to the fashion design development process at
the luxury level, this grounded theory study has resulted in the development of a
typology for creativity in fashion design. The typology defines two categories of
creative activity: Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity. This typology of
creativity provides a foundation for theory development in relation to the socialcultural and ideological shifts that are occurring in the Fashion Industry as well as
the influence of Internet technology on creativity.
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CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH SUMMARY,
CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS
Research Summary
The socio-cultural and economic environment is by nature changing due
to various influences. White (1959) described a process for cultural change that
involved a vector that initially triggers the process. Technology is recognized as
a driver for cultural change (Hamilton 1987, Harris 1980, White, 1959) and this
study focused on technology as a vector to examine change in the fashion
industry in relation to creativity. Because change is an integral component of the
fashion industry by definition, the study of this phenomenon in relation to fashion
design creativity is particularly relevant. The a priori objective of this research
project was to examine the influence of the Internet as a cultural system (White
1959) on creativity in apparel design and product development.
In order to establish feasible research parameters, the topic narrowed to
concentrating on luxury-level fashion designers and industry executives with an
initial focus on creativity in relation to Internet technology. The areas of inquiry
identified at the beginning of the research process were explored through long
interviews (McCracken, 1988). The study’s intent was to explore the participant’s
perception of creativity in fashion design, to identify ways in which the Internet
enhances or hinders creativity in the fashion design process, to analyze barriers
to the Internet’s use, to evaluate advantages to the use of the Internet, and to
describe projected implications of Internet use on the future of the apparel
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industry. Through application of the inductive grounded theory (Denzin & Lincoln
2000) research process, in addition to addressing the above-named areas, the
data led to the development of a Typology for Technology and a Typology for
Creativity in fashion design.
Conclusions
The Creative Process
The creative process begins internally, where intellect and emotions
blend, developing imagination that is stimulated by knowledge. That knowledge
is fueled by an ever-present capacity to learn and transfer stimuli into creative
work. “In the designer-driven context, the search for inspiration is very personal”
(Cillo & Verona, 2008). Simply possessing the technical and intellectual skill to
create does not guarantee the demonstration of creativity, however. The
emotional/psychological state of the designer greatly influences creativity as well.
“Something has to break inside to take out the creativity” (AVH, 2007). Creativity
is part of every aspect of life, and can be described as “the ability and the desire
to solve problems without a preconceived concept of the outcome of the process;
creativity is having the enthusiasm and the opportunity to solve the problem” (TP,
2007). Richard Florida (2002) described a creative class of people who apply
creative thinking to a wide variety of jobs, stating that the ability to think creatively
will be key to social distinction in the future.
Creativity in Fashion Design
Contrary to the practice of creating fine art where the end product’s
function is primarily aesthetic, creating for the Fashion Industry is more complex
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and involves developing a product that (a) has specific aesthetic and functional
properties, (b) triggers psychological reactions related to desire and need and (c)
is adopted by a group of people for a limited amount of time. Given this context,
creativity in fashion design is linked to marketability, however these two concepts
can be considered inherently conflicting paradigms; "It is by virtue of the laws of
imitation that we obey fashion. It is nearly by a protestation against these laws of
imitation that fashion tries to be creative” (AL, 2007). Adopting a consumer
focus, often seen as providing commercial success, can stifle the creative
process or at the very least predetermine the outcome to some degree. Because
the purpose of fashion design is to create a product with a practical function, the
creative fashion designer’s task is to attend to the consumer’s needs in a subtle
manner, creating a harmony which the consumer recognizes and connects to,
while at the same time defining product characteristics that are unique.
Fashion design creativity functions within the larger cultural context and is
dependent on the “cultural arbiters of fashion referring to the extant general
cultural system in which both the fashion system and individual fashion
consumers operate” (Hamilton 1997). Cultural arbiters of fashion relevant to
fashion design creativity include the fashion gatekeepers who decide which
products to feature in magazines, online, on famous people, and in the retail
stores. Although other factors most certainly come in to play, gaining the
attention of the fashion gatekeepers is often dependent on the creativity of a
designer’s work and the brand image (DG, 2007).
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Typology of Creativity in Fashion Design
Creativity takes many forms (Florida, 2002). The Typology for Creativity in
Fashion Design reflects the creative process in relation to developing a product
whose “integral components are novelty and change” (Kawamura, 2005), within
the context of the Fashion Industry, defined as all companies or individuals
involved in the creation, production, promotion, and sale of items that have
specific aesthetic and functional properties, that trigger psychological reactions
related to desire and need which are adopted by a group of people for a limited
amount of time. The data revealed that the creative process in relation to
Fashion Design in the context of the Fashion Industry is inextricably linked to
problem solving. The type of creative technique employed depends on the
problem to be solved, which in most cases directly relates to the customer who
will purchase the garment designed. When examining creativity in fashion
design, two distinct categories of creativity emerged: Leadership Creativity and
Adaptive Creativity.
Leadership Creativity involves focusing on highly refined technique,
materials and craft to develop a product that is fashion-forward, innovative and
directional. Adaptive Creativity involves developing a product with wellestablished parameters or limitations, especially those related to price and
production, exacting a heightened awareness of operations, management,
methods and technology. Figure 5.1 provides a visual depiction of the typology
of Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity. Each type of creativity leads to
fresh product for the appropriate market. Leadership Creativity and Adaptive
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Creativity have eight comparable compone
components
nts related to the work of a fashion
designer, however the nature of the components are distinct. These components
relate to the product and are: (1) research and development, (2) selling price, (3)
nature of product, (4) consumer taste level, (5) techniq
technique,
ue, (6) number of designs
created and reproduced in a season, (7) consumer perception of lifecycle of
product, and (8) source of design inspiration.
Figure 5. 1 Typology of Creativity
reativity in Fashion Design
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Careful examination of the eight components of this typology shows that
each component has distinct characteristics according to creativity type.
Leadership Creativity requires an important investment in research and
development and designers for this category look to primary, abstract sources for
inspiration, while Adaptive Creativity puts less emphasis on in research and
development and designers for this category find inspiration from secondary
sources, most often by examining garments that have already been made. A
Product with Leadership Creativity (PLC) is expected to be sold at a high price,
the designer is not expected to generate a high number of designs per season,
and the product is produced in low numbers to maintain exclusivity. The nature
of the PLC is innovative and directional, reflecting highly developed technique,
appealing to a customer with a refined taste who considers the purchase an
investment. A Product with Adaptive Creativity (PAC) is expected to be sold at a
midrange to low price with considerable emphasis given to establishing efficient
management of operations, materials, and production methods while maximizing
the potential of Process Technology to bring costs down. The designer of the
PAC is expected to generate a high number of designs per season that meet
strict requirements related to price and consumer demand. The PAC is produced
in large numbers, appealing to customers with a wide range of taste levels, from
refined to popular, who consider the lifespan of the garment to be relatively short.
Understanding and pleasing the target market’s taste level is an important
factor to consider when defining the type of creativity employed. A consumer’s
taste level can be defined in terms of refined or popular. Refined taste is
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considered to be characterized possessing receptivity for and understanding of
the unusual; understanding and appreciating the beauty of subtle, unique design
characteristics. Popular taste draws on influences in popular Western culture,
especially those related to sexuality and beauty. Taste level can be influenced by
the customer’s socio-cultural and geographic environment as well. Generally,
urban dwellers are more receptive to a refined taste level and suburban/rural
dwellers are more likely to embrace the popular taste level, however in the
United States, urban costal dwellers are even more likely to cultivate refined
taste than urban Midwestern residents (SK, 2007).
Being attentive to the taste level can enhance a designer’s success when
it enables him or her to better define a niche market, however creating a product
that is creative yet satisfies a wide range of taste levels offers a particular
challenge. The creative challenge when addressing the popular taste level
relates to satisfying established parameters related to price, consumer desires,
and market constraints while the creative challenge at the refined level relates
more to exploring and experimenting in a context with few boundaries.
Multiple commonalities exist between the two types of creativity. Both
types of creativity require “thinking differently” (GL, 2007) and both involve
“problem solving” (TP, 2007). Regardless of the market segment, it can be said
that “In order for something to be fresh and new, it doesn’t have to be weird”
(WM, 2007); it “can be unusual, but not always unusual and not necessarily very
different” (TP, 2007). Finding design inspiration is another common component
regardless of the creativity type, however Leadership Creativity draws from
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primary, often abstract inspirational sources, while Adaptive Creativity chiefly
draws from literal representations of apparel or accessories.
Creative types in relation to price-point
Creative thinking in the problem solving process is required in fashion
design regardless of the price-point; the nature of the creative activity that follows
the initial inspiration differs, however, according to the intended final purchase
price. The type of creativity chosen for the fashion design problem to be solved
also relates to the level of sophistication applied when translating design ideas
into products that can be manufactured in appropriate quantities, meeting both
the aesthetic and economic expectations of the target market. One subject, a
designer, described a psychological link for the consumer between a higher
price-point and receptivity to Leadership Creativity. “I think the main difference
between upper-price and lower-price clothing is that consumers can usually
spend more money for clothing that is more original and more unique” (TP).
Figure 5.2 gives a visual representation of the relationship among factors relative
to the creative process involved when producing a product for a specific market.
Fashion designers who practice pure Leadership Creativity are in the
minority; the majority of fashion design work involves adapting to trends that are
introduced by creative leaders. In France, where the concept of fashion
leadership was first established by King Louis XIV in the 17th Century (DeJean,
2006), the language contains two distinct terms for people who practice these
two types of creativity. True Leadership Creativity is practiced by the créateurs,
or creators, and Adaptive Creativity is practiced by the stylists or designers. A
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French designer who was interviewed for this study explained the distinction:
A stylist, designer, is not really a creator. It is a man of synthesis;
s
meaning that it is someone who studies the images that the true creators,
who are very rare by definition in the entire world, have created, and he
will work on these images to use them to serve the market he is
addressing. (AL, 2007)
Figure 5. 2 Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity
reativity in relation to job
st
type and price--point, with early 21 century
ury fashion industry examples.
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Examining this phenomenon on a continuum, Figure 5.2 situates
Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity within the current fashion industry
paradigm in terms of types of jobs related to producing a product, the price-point
relative to those job types, and illustrates the concept with examples of designers
and companies in the early 21st century who fall within the specified range from
Leadership Creativity to Adaptive Creativity. As the overlapping, light pink,
section of Figure 5.2 indicates, price-point restrictions are not always a deterrent
to the application of Leadership Creativity. When a company has a brand name
that is recognized for Leadership Creativity, such as Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, or
Donna Karan, for example, Leadership Creativity can still be demonstrated within
a reasonable price range.
At Kenzo, the design team “creat[ed] trends, [we didn’t] follow them” (SR,
2007), the products designed can be visualized in a pyramid (personal
conversation with Susan Rooke, 2006) with a few very expensive, very creative
pieces at the top and the with cost levels of rest of the collection decreasing yet
still reflecting the directional, Leadership Creativity. Figure 5.3 provides a visual
representation of this concept, in the context of fashion collection/line
development. Accomplishing the task of maintaining the product characteristics
defined by Leadership Creativity at a lower price-point requires application of the
skills identified as key to Adaptive Creativity; the designer drew on her extensive
knowledge of methods, techniques and technology to balance the collection with
pieces that maintained the allure of directional design and were executed in a
way that enabled producing higher quantities at lower prices. Globalization has
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given many more cost--effective production options to designers, providing more
options of details available to the consumer at the lower price-points.
points.
Figure 5. 3 Combining Leadership Creativity with Adaptive Creativity
Another combination of Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity can
be accomplished through adopting a creativity type to a ccategory
ategory of product, such
as applying Leadership Creativity to textile design, then practicing Adaptive
Creativity to the development of apparel using the textile design (SK, 2007).
Designer SK, when discussing her textile design development, spoke of
“[starting]
arting] with a color and a mood and a vision of a place or a season… Kyoto in
the fall, there is that gray leaden sky and then there are scarlet momiji leaves…”
129
(SK, 2007). However when she advanced to the stage of defining apparel
shapes to cut the textiles into, she liked to “see what is selling at [Henri] Bendel
or Barneys … you go to the designers and see what is out there” (SK, 2007).
This Typology of Creativity in Fashion Design is in no way hierarchal;
there is no implication that one type of designer or creative activity is better or
worse than another. As the above examples demonstrate, given the structure of
the fashion industry in the 21st century, a company’s strategic plan may draw on
both types of creativity. The point of this discussion is to determine distinctive
characteristics of the two types of creativity in fashion design in order to better
understand and support the creative process, regardless of its type.
Technology and Creativity in Fashion Design
Technology is an essential component of today’s business world. “Each
period has had its revolution. Technology is the real revolution of our day” (AL,
2007). Whether or not one embraces technology in personal activities, fashion
designers are inherently influenced by technology because designers synthesize
the world around them and technology is part of today’s environment.
A review of the literature related to technology and the fashion industry led
to the definition of two types of technology in relation to fashion design: Process
Technology and Information Technology. Process Technology relates to the
hardware and software that enable the product to be produced. Information
Technology relates to hardware and software that facilitates communication of
ideas, images and information. As Figure 4.1 indicates, the Internet is the area
where these two types of technology intersect.
130
Research data analysis demonstrated a few common attitudes toward
technology among participant responses, however most responses reflected
extreme differences. Common characteristics among respondents regarding
Information Technology related to geographic location, use of email, use of the
Internet to book travel and to research an intuition that had been derived from a
primary source. In both France and the United States, designers who lived within
a major metropolitan area primarily rejected the idea of employing the Internet in
the inspirational phase of their design work. In contrast, the designers who
resided outside of a major metropolitan area embraced the use of the Internet for
fashion design inspirational research.
All participants agreed that email use was important, however three
participants did not read their own email; they delegated the task. A well-known
Los Angeles-based fashion designer stated: “I am a complete technophile. I
have the blackberry and use all kinds of technology, but not for design” (GL,
2007). Five participants expressed concern about the intrusion of email into other
aspects of their jobs. Another common thread was that email has increased the
workload. “Before we just sent a fax; now we send a fax and telephone and
email” (AVH, 2007). All respondents confirmed that they did use the Internet to
book travel arrangements and to purchase personal items, citing the Internet’s
accessibility and flexibility to be major advantages.
The trend forecasters in both France and the United States found the
Internet to be useful in their work as a secondary resource by googling a concept
they had established through primary research. Designers also went to the
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Internet to research a cultural or historic concept: “If I want to do a collection
about Icat textiles, or tribes in Peru, etc. I can look that up easily” (GL, 2007). If I
happen to want a picture of a Russian tsar’s crown, I can get that on the Internet
in an instant” (TP, 2007). The Internet provides “a library with images” (SR,
2007).
Process Technology and Fashion Design
Although exploring the respondent’s perception of Process Technology
was not the initial intent of this study, when prompted to comment on technology
in fashion design, respondents invariably gravitated to Process Technology.
Common responses related to Process Technology centered on three themes:
speed and accuracy, skepticism about the effectiveness of virtual simulation, and
enthusiastically embracing Process Technology for the purpose of pattern
grading and textile design.
Three respondents described advantages of Process Technology related
to completing work faster and keeping work organized, however “the quality of
the work is only as good as the person who is putting it into the computer” (WM,
2007). Those respondents who gave an opinion about virtual prototyping and 3D simulation were thrilled at the potential of these technologies, but concurred
that there must be additional research and development before widespread
adoption will be remarked.
Process Technology was noted to be particularly important in relation to
textile development. Developments in Process Technology have provided
designers with new fiber characteristics leading to new fabrics, which designers
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found quite inspirational. Designing textile prints has benefitted greatly from
Process Technology, from conceptualization using simulation software to digital
printing.
In stark contrast to some respondent’s receptive approach to Process
Technology, AVH, a prominent Parisian designer, stated that she “…will lose the
soul of the brand” (AVH, 2007) if the prototype development process even strays
from the current 3-D draping focus to flat-pattern. Completing patterns on the
computer, therefore, would further distance the design development process
from its creative foundation.
Responses refuted the possible assumption that if one had an affinity for
Process Technology adoption of Information Technology would be automatic, or
vice-versa. When a respondent embraced Process Technology, he or she
sometimes, but not always, embraced Information Technology. This American
designer, who embraced Process Technology enthusiastically, developing all of
the prototypes for his designer-level evening gowns on the computer, expressed
disdain for the Internet. “The Internet is a great source of totally useless
information (TP, 2007).” Inversely, the French designer who expressed
resistance to Process Technology also avoided Information Technology to the
point of not using email, however, she did recognize the importance of
Information Technology to her business, especially in marketing and public
relations “the only place I really feel a difference [related to Information
Technology] is with the press. Everything is communicated so well, and
everybody has the information” (AVH, 2007).
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The idea that the Internet has added an extra layer of complexity to
creative work was expressed by a French trend forecaster, who confirmed that
the trend forecasting process has not changed with the advent of the Internet,
however the Internet is another addition to all the other cultural influences trend
forecasters must address.
Advantages and Disadvantages to Internet Use for Fashion Design Creativity
The availability of information on the Internet has influenced a designer’s
work, due to the manner in which “everyone has immediate access to things that
previously were very hard to know, such as photos of designer collections” (GL,
2007). Open access via the Internet to previously secret information can be seen
from two perspectives; problematic for companies that focus on Leadership
Creativity, and a force that drives sales for companies that focus on Adaptive
Creativity. French industry executive DG (2007) views the availability of designs
on the Internet as a problem in terms of copyright protection and piracy.
Because much of the driving force behind the fashion industry revolves around
mystery and surprise, the availability of fashion designs on the Internet before the
merchandise enters the sales floor creates a potential economic disaster for
companies that have invested in the production of PLC’s (Products with
Leadership Creativity). The financial blow takes place because the companies
that produce PAC’s (Products with Adaptive Creativity) will have already
produced adaptations of those fashion designs and saturated the market with
them, rendering the original creation undesirable by the time it reaches the sales
floor.
134
In stark contrast to that point of view, an American industry executive
described a situation where the availability of fashion information on the internet
to be a driver for sales for the company that practices Adaptive Creativity,
especially those that focus on fast fashion, or low-priced apparel that requires 30
days or less to go from concept through production and arrive on the sales floor.
“A girl can go on style.com and then go into Forever 21, and recognize that a
dress is a knockoff from Marc Jacobs” (WM, 2007). In this case, the Internet was
a resource for both the company, Forever 21, and the customer. The Adaptive
designers at Forever 21 were inspired by the Marc Jacobs dress from the
runway, presented online about 6 months before arriving on the Marc Jacobs
sales floor. The customer was prompted to buy because the Forever 21 dress
sold at a price she could afford and she related the style to the one by Marc
Jacobs, making her feel fashionable.
Barriers to the Internet’s use for fashion design
The idea that Information Technology could “kill innovation” was echoed
by more than one respondent. An aversion to the influence of the Internet on the
creative process was expressed by several respondents who noted a need for
the human element to provide variety and uniqueness, and a need for a face-toface, tactile experience. The Internet is a 2-dimensional resource at this time (3D virtual worlds are still in the experimental stages); “only visualizing [is possible]
through technology; you cannot experience through technology” (WM, 2007).
Designers and trend forecasters unanimously expressed the need to travel in
order to gain the inspiration needed to fuel the creative process. “There is
135
something to be said about the emotional attachment to an item when you see it
and feel it and smell it” (GL, 2007). “Because you need to be there to experience
it yourself, and to notice that little jeweled container on the side that may just
inspire an entire collection” (CD, 2007). Two designers also expressed the need
to travel to clear their minds and see the world around them in a different way.
The Internet is often used, however, to prepare for travel in a qualitative way, not
just for booking trips, but by providing a platform for researching the destination.
Projected Implications of Internet Use on the Future of Creativity in the Fashion
Industry
Internet use is an inevitable component of a fashion designer’s
environment as we advance into the 21st century. The respondents as a whole
agreed that the Internet is a prevalent force in the world today, one of many
components of our technologically-influenced environment. This research has
shown that successful companies in the fashion industry gravitate to establishing
a presence on the Internet, that the Internet is a phenomenon to watch but to use
guardedly, and that designers who practice Leadership Creativity find inspiration
from non-Internet related sources but use the Internet to research a concept
and/or to confirm or refute an intuition.
In many instances customer demand has driven designers to developing
an online presence. A French trend forecaster confirmed that as a company they
do not travel and exhibit at trade shows as much as they used to, making their
presence on the Internet important for brand identity and customer access (PF,
2007). Having a presence on the Internet was unanimously cited as essential to
136
brand development. “Designers use the Internet to disseminate information; the
Internet provides validation for the brand (GL, 2007).”
Given the undeniable presence of the Internet, its role must be kept in
perspective while developing creative ideas. It is important to keep a balance
between traditional work and the use of the Internet: “The creator must know how
to use the Internet. He cannot, of course, become a slave to the internet” (AL,
2007). Over-dependence on the Internet can result in homogenization of ideas,
“taking away from exactly the things that we need, which is to get out there and
immerse yourself in [the culture] … [the Internet] is overall a good thing; we just
have to make sure it doesn’t become our world” (CD, 2007).
This study has demonstrated that a fashion design professional should be
aware of how the consumer uses the Internet and how Internet use influences
society in general, while at the same time staying removed from the phenomenon
enough to think independently from its influences. “[technology] has positives and
negatives. I know what to take and not to take from it (GL, 2007).” The nature of
the influence drawn from the Internet varies widely. For example, French trend
forecaster PF (2007) commented that his company was not interested in the
validity of information found on the Internet; the value came from the link the
trend forecaster could make with another event, reinforcing the evolution of a
phenomenon.
Information Technology and Change in Social Structure and Ideology
The phenomenon of the Internet has influenced people’s ideology, or
world view, “Technology has changed a lot because the mentality has changed
137
with the technology (AVH, 2007).” This research revealed a general consensus
that technology has been the impetus for change in many ways, from making the
work we do more efficient (CD, 2007), to changing working methods by requiring
less active physical contact with our environment and increasing sedentary
virtual contact (WM, 2007).
Information Technology has opened people’s minds to new ways of
thinking and behaving, by changing the type and nature of the social interaction
we seek. Because technology provides such a wide variety of stimuli, in order to
satisfy and be attractive the nature of expression needs to be varied. People are
“not attached just to one direct hit. They need to have variety and interaction in
some way, and they need to have a twist. Not for novelty, really, just because
they’ve seen and done everything. Overload” (PF, 2007). Regardless of one’s
physical location, with technology, a vast amount of information is readily
available and people are more knowledgeable about diverse subjects than ever
before. “Thanks to technology we have access [more] quickly than before to the
cultures of the world, to different civilizations. So we have a much more open
spirit thanks to technology” (AL, 2007).
Due to Information Technology consumers have evolved in relation to their
fashion product expectations. Some have developed higher expectations and
are more conscious of the nature of the fashion product, demonstrating a firm
position regarding the nature of the desired product, even to the point of
becoming personally involved in the product’s development. A couture-level
dress designer in New York explained that “Because of the Internet … people
138
can find me easily. I get emails from consumers all the time…I have had so
many people ask me if they can come up to my studio and for me to make
clothes for them” (TP, 2007). TP (2007) went on to explain that not only did
these customers want custom-made clothes, they wanted to participate in the
design process, pushing his business to develop a new division.
Technology still has not permeated the process of applying Leadership
Creativity to designing luxury-level apparel, as this quote from a French trend
forecaster demonstrates:
[How technology influences creativity] is an interesting question because I
never even thought about it before. And I didn’t realize how antitechnology I thought creative people were until I said it. But it’s true when I see all my friends working, I mean they’re all between 30 and 45,
and they just don’t – it’s only in the textiles where they embrace it. Maybe
in the technical side of making the garment, they embrace it, but in the
way that inspiration and creativity goes, they don’t use technology (PF,
2007).
Suggestions for Future Research and Limitations of the Study
This study developed a better understanding of the creative process in
relation to fashion design and the influence of the Internet on creativity in the
design and product development of luxury-level fashion. As an exploratory study
one consequence of the data analysis is to initiate dialogue and further research.
Questions that have been discussed through this study, but merit further
investigation include: Does the use of Process Technology enhance the creative
139
process or does it limit the boundaries of creativity and impose parameters of
uniformity relative to the capacity of the technology? Does the proliferation of
information through the use of technology result in a customer who is more
interested in a creative product, or is does this information saturation remove the
elements of mystery and surprise, therefore rendering the consumer indifferent to
the creative value of the product? Is the creative designer’s work facilitated by
the availability of Information Technology, or does the simple nature of the
availability of the information render it useless to the creative fashion design
process?
This study has provided an initial analysis of the interaction between
creativity and technology, resulting in a typology for creativity and a typology for
technology in relation to fashion design. As a qualitative, inductive project, the
resulting overarching framework provides a foundation from which researchers
can examine these phenomena. Because of the industry segment selected,
luxury, the subjects interviewed practiced primarily Leadership Creativity.
Additional research exploring the relationship between the creative process and
technology at different levels of creativity in fashion design, including designers
who mix Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity as well as those who
focus uniquely on Adaptive Creativity will provide a well-rounded view of the
phenomenon. The subjects in this study were selected following the purposeful
sampling method; further exploration of the interaction between technology and
creativity using discriminative sampling would enrich perception of the
phenomenon.
140
Implications
Relevance of this study to the Fashion Industry
Drawing on the Typology for Creativity in Fashion Design, designers,
managers, directors, business owners educators, and students will be able to
refine their efforts to better meet the needs and wants of their target market while
maintaining a profitable bottom line, while lawmakers will be able to draw on the
Typology for Creativity in Fashion Design to develop a way to copyright fashion
designs in the United States.
Adapting working methods to accommodate the parameters of Leadership
Creativity and Adaptive Creativity, companies will create a more efficient, fulfilling
and profitable workplace. Managers and business owners will be able to draw on
the Typology for Technology in Fashion Design to make more educated
decisions regarding the acquisition of software and investments in information
technologies. Being able to delineate components of the creative process in
fashion design will enable managers to better understand and support creative
efforts, thus resulting in higher productivity and profit margins. Working fashion
designers will gain insight from the analysis of the use of the Internet in relation
to the creativity type. Understanding the analysis of the influence of the Internet
on the creative process will aid fashion designers to define best practices for their
specific market type. Overall, understanding the concepts presented by this
research will enhance the development and retention of creative talent. Building
creative communities and keeping them vibrant is an important element in the
quest for viable economic development (Florida, 2005).
141
Educators will find this study useful as they develop curricula that prepare
designers, product developers and managers to work in this new paradigm
where the use of technology is prominent. Courses relating to fashion design
creativity can clearly refine student’s skills related to both Leadership Creativity
and Adaptive Creativity. The Fashion Industry is by nature competitive, and
companies today are exploring a wide range of options to help them gain a
competitive edge. A visit to the design offices of prominent fashion companies in
major metropolitan areas revealed that a high percentage of employees in
creative positions come from around the world. It is important that educators
create learning systems that foster fashion design creativity in order for
graduates to compete in this highly competitive employment market, and the
Typology for Creativity in Fashion Design provides a foundation for development
of courses to meet the demands of the professional world. Making the distinction
between Leadership Creativity and Adaptive Creativity will assist students when
making career choices, enabling them to define their strengths and focus on the
type of creativity where they perform the best.
Lawmakers involved in the copyright debate would find the Typology for
Creativity in Fashion Design to be a useful tool when defining the intellectual
rights to a fashion design. One of the most controversial points regarding
copyrighting fashion is that there is no standard by which one can measure the
level of originality of a design. This is due, in part, because all clothing shares
certain common characteristics, however this barrier can be overcome by
evaluating the design using the guidelines established in the Typology for
142
Leadership Creativity. Copyright law could be adjusted to assume that products
with the characteristics of Leadership Creativity indeed can be defined as
“original works of authorship” (www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf). Just as one
can copyright novels, which are essentially words grouped together in a specific
way, so could one copyright original fashion designs using the guidelines for
Leadership Creativity, because the emphasis is not on the components, in this
case sleeves and collars instead of words, but on the way that the components
are developed and grouped together. Another powerful argument against
copyright protection in the United States is the litigation that widespread
copyrights would most likely instigate (Palank, 2006). By clearly delineating the
parameters of designs eligible for copyright protection, the number of copyrights
would be limited. The number of designs eligible for copyright would be restricted
to those that demonstrate Leadership Creativity. Adopting the Typology for
Creativity in Fashion Design as a framework for establishing fashion design
copyright authorization would finally allow the work of creative fashion designers
in the United States to gain respect and protection comparable to the aesthetic
and technical value of their work.
All persons involved in design-related areas of the Fashion Industry will
benefit from this analysis because it helps to consciously understand the
changes that are taking place at social structural and ideological levels of the
immediate micro-culture and the larger macro-culture in which the Fashion
Industry functions. Marvin White’s (1959) idea that cultural evolution does not
always lead to improvement is relevant to the result of this study when one
143
considers that the influence of Internet technology may lead to homogenization of
design ideas if creative design inspiration shifts from primary sources in the
natural environment to the Internet where the information is filtered and twodimensional. As we advance into the 21st century, continuous monitoring of the
interaction between technology and creativity is necessary in order to preserve
the beauty of the past while embracing the possibilities of the future.
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APPENDIX
Interview Protocol
Interview Protocol
Project: Technology and Creativity: Fashion Design in the 21st Century
Time of interview:
Date:
Place:
Interviewee:
Position of interviewee:
Brief description of the project:
Thank you for agreeing to participate in my doctoral dissertation research about
the impact of technology on creativity. I am interviewing luxury-level designers
regarding their perception of how creativity develops in today’s working
environment. I have prepared a set of questions to guide this interview, and will
be taking notes as you speak. I will analyze the results and work with my
professor to develop a framework for understanding this phenomenon. Your
identity will at all times be anonymous, and there will be absolutely no way to
trace your responses back to you.
Do you agree to participate willingly in this study?
Creativity
How do you perceive creativity?
145
How important is creativity in fashion design?
How does the product’s price point/target market impact the level of creativity you
strive for?
Inspiration.
What sources do you refer to for inspiration?
How do you use these sources?
What is the relationship between the inspiration and the product category?
The inspiration and the consumer?
Technology
How does today’s technology impact your creativity?
How does technology impact you in areas such as travel, quantity and quality of
work?
How does technology impact your perception of customer expectations
How does technology impact your perception of his or her employer’s
expectations?
Do you use the Internet for design inspiration? How?
Does your customer use the Internet? How? Does that impact the way you
design and research?
How have you seen the work of a fashion designer change with the advent of the
Internet?
.
146
Thank you so much for your participation. I just want to confirm to you that your
responses will be kept anonymous. Would you mind if I contacted you within the
month with other questions or to confirm my understanding of your responses?
147
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VITA
Mary Ruppert-Stroescu attended Southern Illinois University where
she received a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Design and Merchandising
with a minor in Art and a minor in Business. After finishing her degree,
she went to Paris, France, to continue her studies and she lived and
worked outside of the United States for about 10 years. Mary worked as a
designer for companies in Europe leading to the establishment of her own
business in partnership with her husband, Bogdan Stroescu, based in
Paris that produced ready-to-wear, selling wholesale and in proprietary
boutiques. She began teaching full-time for ESMOD Casablanca, in
Morocco, and has been teaching fashion design for over 15 years while
designing for exhibit, most recently winning the 2007 ITAA Award for
Excellence in Draping. Mary earned a Master of Science in Textile and
Apparel Management from the University of Missouri in 1999, and is
currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the Fashion Department at
Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts.
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